Lost and Found
by Danielwain
Summary: Dreams are but shadows, or aren't they? In one of the earlier timelines Kyouko has a very strange dream, but just how much could one little dream affect the fate of Miki Sayaka? Kyouko is determined to do something about the things she saw, at any cost. Sayaka on the other hand... Beware, there will be spoilers, so watch the anime first.
1. On the brink of despair

**Introduction:** This story takes place in an alternate timeline which is relatively akin to the timeline of the anime, though some things are different as well and things won't go quite the same way, I suppose it could also count as AU, though we aren't really sure. It will eventually lead to Sayaka x Kyouko (yuri/girl x girl), so if that isn't your cup of tea you should probably not read this. Of course we don't own the original, all rights go to their respective owners.

...

**Sayaka's POV**, after the fight against Elsa Maria

...

This fight was so easy, I don't even know how I could've been struggling against any Witches or Familiars before... Without the pain there is nothing holding me back any more, I don't need any help, my wounds just close themselves afterwards. The labyrinth of the Witch disintegrates into thin air, as if nothing had happened, the only proof she was ever there is the black gem falling to the ground. I pick it up, but I have no need for it, I will just give it to that red-haired vulture...

"Here. You're after that, right?" I toss it over to her. Why else would she have come, if she wasn't waiting for me to die so she could finish off the weakened Witch herself or to claim my price? As if she'd come here to help me because she was worried about me, or anyone else for that matter, she doesn't care about anything but her own worthless life and her well-being... She wouldn't care if some Familiar became a Witch and killed scores of people as long as she got a Grief Seed out of it...

"Hey..." She looks a little bit... I don't know how I should interpret this look, sad, worried, annoyed? Not that it matters. I slowly walk towards Madoka. Maybe I'm being a little bit too harsh with her, maybe she isn't such a bad person after all... what she told me in that church, if it was true I could somewhat understand her... But I don't even care any more, all I can do is fight Witches, that's all Magical Girls are good for, after all...

"I don't want to owe you any favours. We're even, okay?" I don't think I needed help, but I don't want to feel as if I'd be indebted to her, of all people. I walk past her and towards Madoka, she also looks rather worried. What is their problem? This body is just a corpse, the heart may beat, the blood may be warm and flow, but it isn't my body any longer, it's just an object I use to fight the Witches. That's all I am, a weapon to fight Witches, my soul isn't even in my body any more... "Let's go, Madoka."

"Sayaka-chan..." I don't really understand why she is so worried, if she really wanted to help me, to protect me, all she would have to do is make a contract with Kyubey, he already told me that she would be so much stronger than any of us... No, I shouldn't think like this, I decided this for myself, it was my fault for being so stupid! I feel so tired... I undo my transformation and try to land on my feet, but somehow my body doesn't obey me, for just a moment I fall, but I can support myself on Madoka.

"Sorry..." I let go of Madoka and try to stand on my own feet, I think I could hear a faint gasp behind me just now, it almost sounds a little bit like Kyouko... Or maybe I'm just hearing things, my body is still a little bit hard to control... "I'm a little bit worn out." I slightly stagger backwards, but Madoka catches me again... I feel so useless, Mami-san would be so much stronger, Kyouko would be so much stronger...

"Don't push yourself. I'll carry you." I want to protest for a moment, a heroine should be able to stand on her own two feet and fight her own battles, but my body doesn't allow it and I probably can't call myself that either way. Even as a zombie I have my limits, everyone else is so much stronger than me... Why can't I be as strong as Mami-san was, or as strong as that transfer student and Kyouko!? Those two use their powers for their own wicked ends, but I, trying to do the right thing, have to be so damn weak!

There is no point in complaining, the world wasn't ever fair to begin with, I sacrifice my life and more for Kamijou-kun, but he doesn't even look at me in return... Just a couple of days ago everything was wonderful in our perfect little world, sure, we had to go to school and Kamijou-kun had his injured hand, but all those problems I had before just feel so trivial in comparison... I lean onto Madoka and let her carry me, probably to the next metro station.

...

It started raining... Madoka did bring me to the closest metro station, from here I could just take a train home, but what would be the point of doing that...? It's all so pointless, I can't believe I was so hyped to become a Magical Girl before, what for? To protect someone? To save someone? Why did I care about Kamijou-kun so much to begin with? He just acted like a spoiled little brat. No, that's not true, but I feel so...

"Sayaka-chan... You're not supposed to fight like that..." Madoka is my best friend, I lean against her, but right now she's just annoying me... This is the only way I can fight, if I don't do it this way I'd be even more useless, I wouldn't even be able to hurt the Witches any more. I look at her for a moment, she's crying... "Don't lie and say it doesn't hurt! I can tell how bad you're hurting just watching you! Don't act like it's okay to get hurt just because you can't feel it!" Where did all that power I had while fighting that Witch in black and white go...?

"If I don't do that I can't win. I'm no good." I push myself a little bit away from her, at least I can sit on my own again... I should leave, if I stay here I'll just end up hurting Madoka, the words I say feel so strange to me, as if someone else was saying them, but it's all true... How could I be such a stupid airhead just a few days ago, joking around with my friends and caring about nothing, despite the world being as it is? I was so blind...

"Even if you win fighting like that, it's no good for you!" 'No good for me'? I could almost burst out laughing, there no longer is something that could be good for me... I'm just a stupid corpse, I can't be with Kamijou-kun because of that, I can't be with anyone... All I have to look forward to is dying at the hands of some Witch or some other way, maybe Kyouko or that transfer student would do it if I get in their unjust ways again...

"Good for me? What is good for me?" Madoka makes a surprised noise and I finally find the strength to stand up again, though I'm still staggering a little bit. Well, at least it doesn't hurt... The rain is getting stronger again, I should have left sooner... but I can stand Madoka's stupid concerns no longer, why should I hold back for her...? I take out my darkened Soul Gem and show it to her. "How is anything good for me with a body like this?"

"Sayaka-chan..." I wanted to spare her from this, but she just had to keep pushing it, had she just remained quiet... To hell with her! She just talks about it as if she knew everything there was to know about being a Magical Girl, but the truth is that she can't understand the first thing about us. At least my feet are working properly again, so I stand up and walk out into the rain, it's not as if I'd feel it on my skin any longer, this isn't my skin...

"I'm just a lump of stone put here to defeat Witches. A walking corpse, pretending it's alive. What can anyone do for me? There's no point even thinking about it." It's depressing, but that's all there is to it, the human Miki Sayaka died the moment she made a contract with Kyubey, for such a pointless thing... How could I throw away my humanity, my very soul for a jerk like that!? I know that he isn't really a jerk, but still...!

"But I want to make you happy somehow..." I want to leave, I want to run away before I can say anything else, but I stay... I can't help it, I want to blow off some steam and Madoka is the only one here, I almost wish Kyouko was here so that we could beat each other up over it instead, she can take it, but Madoka... I should go, I really should go before I say anything I can't take back...

"Then you fight them." Madoka's eyes widen in fear, as if she only understood now what it would mean to help me... Shouldn't that be obvious? I'm sure Kyubey told her a million times by now how much better she'd be than any of us normal Magical Girls, how great she would be... Why does she have to have that power, why can't it be me...? "Kyubey told me you have far more potential than most. You can take them out without getting beat up like that."

"I... That's..." As I thought, she wouldn't be willing to give up that much for just her stupid friend. She could wish Mami back, maybe I should've done that myself instead of giving Kamijou-kun his stupid hand back, it's not as if he'd ever use it to touch me... What am I even thinking...? What a pathetic excuse for a heroine I am... I tell myself I wanted to do what was right, but in truth I just wanted him to look at me the way he will probably look at Hitomi...

"If you want to do something for me, then go ahead and see what my life is really like. Nah, of course you won't." I finally get my legs to move towards the exit, the doors open, but I can't stop my mouth now... "You're not going to throw away your humanity out of sympathy." Why do I have to do something like that? I know how it has to hurt Madoka, I know it, but I just keep going, it feels as if a dam was broken inside of me, holding all these thoughts back...

"Sympathy? Sayaka..." I hate the way she's just sitting there, pitying me with her pink big eyes as if she could do nothing but cry even though she could do just about anything I could never hope to, the choices she could make are infinite, yet she just chooses to do absolutely nothing with that power... I feel jealous, it's so unfair, I'd make this world a just place if I had that power, I would eradicate all...! I shouldn't think like this, I really shouldn't, but...

"I'm like this because even though you could do anything you're doing nothing! So don't just play innocent while giving me lectures!" I said it, I just said it all... I wanted to keep those ugly thoughts away from Madoka, I wanted to protect her from all of this, but I have to leave now... If I don't leave now there's no telling what I might end up doing to her... I might be cursed already, but if I just stay alone from now on...

"Sayaka-chan..." She follows me outside, into the heavy rain... I have to get rid of her before something really bad happens...

"Stay away from me." Madoka looks at me as if I had just slapped her, but I don't think she'll follow me any longer, that's for the best... I just run off and leave her behind... I should go back and apologise, but as I am now I'd just end up hurting her even more, this is better for both of us... I can't hold my tears back any longer as I run away from her, I don't even know where to... "I'm a total moron! Why did I say that to her!? I'm hopeless!"

...

**Kyouko's POV**, Homura's apartment

...

I take a pair of chopsticks and start eating the instant noodles I made myself, Homura has it pretty good here, running water, a water boiler, pretty much anything I'd need for a good life, though her taste for home decoration leaves a lot to be desired... I dig in, but somehow the noodles don't taste how they should, they're so stale... Maybe I got a bad package or something like that, though I think it's rather because of what happened earlier today. 'I don't want to owe you any favours. We're even, okay?'

"I predict that Walpurgisnacht will appear in this area." Bloody hell, why do I have to worry about that idiot so much!? It's her own damn problem if she wants to get beaten to death by some stupid Witch, I should be glad if that'd happen, but somehow I don't think I would be... She and her stupid ideals about heroism and justice and all that other crap, she has to be even worse than Mami used to be, at first I wanted to beat that right out of her, but now...

"Where's it based?" At least I can distract myself with something serious, if I didn't have to worry about a Walpurgisnacht this would probably drive me crazy, I was thinking way to much about that girl lately... She reminds me a lot of how I used to be, how I listened to my father and his stories about how to make the world a better place, and how he destroyed what little we had, our family, when I did try to make a difference... In a way our wishes went pretty much the same way, taking the most important things we had from us...

"The clock tower."

"The clock tower?" I slurp down some of my ramen, though I wonder how she wants to know something like that. "I haven't heard of Walpurgisnacht appearing in this city before. So how are you so sure about the clocktower?" Homura just stares back at me and ignores my question... "Look, this isn't exactly a line of business where you can blindly trust your colleagues, you know? Why don't you show me a bit more about what you're really after?"

"I'd like to ask that, too. Akemi Homura." That stupid... I don't know how he got in here, but I want to kick him out already. I materialise my spear and point it directly at his face.

"You've got a lot of guts showing your face here, rat." He doesn't seem to be very impressed, somehow his behaviour is ticking me off even more than usual... Nah, why should he tell us that he just removes the most important component of our being and puts them into gems, that would be ridiculous, huh? I wanted to hit him so hard, but that probably wouldn't really help us either, would it? Though he'd deserve it.

"Oh, so I'm an uninvited guest? And here I am tonight, trying to give you some really important information." He's wagging his tail like a cat playing with a mouse, I don't think I'd really care about his 'information', at least not if it's like anything he's given us so far, but I make a questioning sound to make him continue. "Miki Sayaka is exhausting herself faster than I expected. Not only in terms of magic use, but her body itself exudes a cursed air."

"And whose fault is that?" That ugly thing has to remind me of her again, how she's probably sitting somewhere all alone, pitying herself for her fate. I'd say that it's her own fault, but that wouldn't really be the whole truth, she didn't know half the things there were to know. Heck, I didn't know any of this Soul Gem business until just recently, I don't think I'd have agreed to that contract if I'd known that, starving would probably still be better than what I got...

"If she keeps this up, something unfortunate will happen before Walpurgisnacht. You should be careful." Hmpf, I wouldn't call that information very useful, especially since he's probably keeping at least half of the important stuff to himself, for example what's supposed to happen...

"What's that supposed to mean?" I lower my weapon, it's not as if I'd really need it against Kyubey. He's still making me pretty mad, with his high-pitched voice and how his face is always the same, he'd make a pretty good poker player...

"Why don't you ask her instead of me?" Huh? Why should Homura know anything about this? Then again, she was always bragging around with knowledge she probably shouldn't have to begin with... "You already know, don't you, Akemi Homura?" She somehow reminds me of Kyubey, she's almost as good as him at hiding what she thinks, it'd probably be fun to see a poker match between these two... Or it would be boring as hell. "I wonder where you picked up that little fact. I'm very, very curious. Are you..."

"You've asked your questions. Now begone." At least she seems to dislike Kyubey as much as I do, if her expression just now is anything to go by. He makes a little bow and vanishes into the shadows, though I wonder why we don't just kill him, he's not doing us any good. Hopefully Homura will explain this to me, I didn't really understand a word they were saying just now. I put away my spear and turn towards Homura.

"You're letting him go?"

"Killing it would solve nothing." Somehow I feel like beating all the answers I want out of her, but she isn't exactly someone I can take lightly, she is rather strong, she stepped in when Sayaka and I were at each others throats and she knows a lot... Then again, she isn't much better than Kyubey, she also tells me next to nothing if I don't ask at least three times and even then her answers are pretty vague, most of the time. Though I'm kind of worried about what that little critter said...

"Anyway, what about Miki Sayaka? What's this 'something unfortunate' he's talking about?" I think my feeling was right, something is definitely wrong with Sayaka, though I don't know what she's done this time...

"Her Soul Gem has become corrupted." She looks just a little bit sad, but I think tired would describe her better as a whole... "If it isn't cleansed soon, something will happen that cannot be undone." What's that even supposed to mean...? At least it doesn't sound good at all, I'm feeling even more worried about her now... Something that can't be undone, so she'd probably die if this goes on... Dammit!

"Whatever, I think I'll call it a night, there's not much we can do right now. But we'll take care of Sayaka tomorrow, alright?" Homura looks at me with her usual blank stare, I guess she isn't exactly hyped by that idea, but if she wants my help she'd better do it, otherwise I'll do it on my own and see whether I'll help her with Walpurgisnacht afterwards. I could just as well take Sayaka and go somewhere else, Walpurgisnacht would just kill some people, destroy a lot of stuff here and a city there and be done with it, that's how it always goes with those.

"If you really want that..." Well, of course, otherwise I wouldn't bring that up in the first place. Though I should keep an eye out for Homura and Kyubey, I don't trust either of them, they're probably both just trying to use me to their own ends. The only one who didn't seem to try that so far was Sayaka, though she tried to kill me instead, not that much better, in my opinion. Well, whatever, I should really get some sleep...

"Yeah, I want that, so you'd better go along with it, alright? Well, we can meet here tomorrow and discuss what we're gonna do from there. I'll come around three o'clock, alright?" Homura just nods a little bit absentminded, so I let myself out and get going, at least the rain isn't really strong any more, just a light drizzle. Why did I even think about taking Sayaka with me if I'd want to leave this city to its fate? She'd never agree to something like that, it would go against her stupid ideals and so on...

If only it wouldn't be so damn difficult with her, back there in the church I thought she'd finally understand where I'm coming from and I think she kinda did, but she still didn't try to listen to my advise, she's just going on and on with her stupid self-righteousness... At least she isn't some damn hypocrite about it, she goes by her own standards, even if it takes her straight to hell, I respect that somewhat, but I still have to stop her!

"Dammit, why do you have to be so stupid...?" I wonder aloud, but there's no one else around, even if there was I don't think anyone could give me a good answer for that question. She is a real piece of work, a mountain would probably listen to reason and move out of the way before she would... I guess I kind of like that about her as well, even if life itself comes around to smack her in the face she tries to get back up again...

But if she keeps doing that she won't get up right away, she'll never get back up... Well, what should I do about that anyways? It's not as if I was her friend, hell, I know her for a couple of days now and I wouldn't say we got along well, especially since her first impression of me was me trying to kill her and all that stuff, though that wasn't really my intention... Geez, I tell myself to stop worrying about it but after half a minute I'm right back to it either way, it wouldn't be so bad if I could do something about it, but I just can't...

I'd really like to beat someone up right now, anyone would do, but that wouldn't really make this situation any better, if anything Sayaka would probably just somehow happen across me while I was in the middle of it and that wouldn't make things between us any better. It would just make her think even less of me and she probably wouldn't bother with asking questions, so that would just end with more bloodshed... Oh, I'm already in front of my 'apartment'... Now just a little climbing tour...

...

I push open the window, it's rather hard to open since no one takes care of it. I didn't even realise how long I was just lost in thoughts, but I somehow found my way back, though this place sucks... well, it's not as if I could afford anything better, I don't earn any money and I don't pay for this place, the owners don't even know I eat and sleep here. It's actually just a rundown attic, they didn't use it in years. I have nothing but a futon here, nothing from before my 'single life'... Well, and there's also a ton of empty packing, I rarely bother cleaning here.

I feel pretty tired, so I just take a box of pocky from my supplies and drop into my futon, this thing could also use some cleaning... Then again no one ever comes here, not even the owners of this place, so who cares about this anyways, if I want to do something I get out of here and do it. I can't say it's perfect, but right now is still pretty much the prime of my life, we were always starving as a family because of how stupid others were.

Whatever, I don't really feel like thinking back to my family, things are gloomy enough as is, no point thinking about even more depressing stuff. At least I have my pocky, that's all I need to be happy, I can do just fine on my own. So what if I didn't earn it with honest work, I don't give a damn about that, it's not as if those big business concerns or the supermarkets would miss the stuff. I slam the window shut again, it's rather cold and unpleasant outside... Maybe I should consider getting myself a job...

Where did that one come from? Why should I give up the convenient life I have right now, I only have to worry about the Witches, everything else is taken care of, I have food, a roof above my head, everything I need... Sayaka would probably think better of me, so maybe I should consider it and clean up this slough while I'm at it... Yeah, as if, it's not as if Sayaka would care about where or how I live, or even care about me at all...

The more important question would be why I even think about what Sayaka might think about certain things, I shouldn't care about that at all, I shouldn't care about her at all, for crying out loud! *Sigh* This is pointless, I stretch myself once more and get onto the futon with my clothes still on. I used to break into the actual rooms all of the time before, but somehow I didn't do that since I met Sayaka...

"Well, what do you want to do about Miki Sayaka?" The hell!? That stupid little rat, can't he even leave me alone when I'm about to go to sleep!? I jump out of my futon immediately and materialise my spear, this time I don't even bother with words, I just pierce his smug little face. Should've done that a couple of years ago, before I even became a Magical Girl. This should take care of that problem, there's a hole in his face now. "You could have just told me to leave, that would have been less time-consuming for both of us..."

"What the hell!? How are you still...?" I push him off of the spear, but there's already a new one, though I have no idea how that one got here... How did the first one even get in here? The door is locked and even I have some trouble getting that window to open... Well, he's powerful enough to grand otherwise impossible wishes and stuff like that, so I shouldn't be that surprised... I should probably just ignore him and get to bed already, I feel pretty tired. "You know what? I don't care, just get out of here and don't come back..."

"You could have just said so to begin with, I will leave." I push off my boots and lie down again, this time I'm really going to sleep, no matter what... wait, what's that strange munching sound? It's pretty dark in here, so I need to focus a little bit. Is that... Is that thing eating its own corpse!? Dammit, I should really just ignore him... I close my eyes and cover my ears, at least I don't think it should take long to fall asleep...

...

Huh...? Where am I? It looks like... a metro station? I look around a little bit, it seems somewhat familiar, after a moment I see her sitting next to me, Sayaka... I don't know what I'm doing here with her, but it somehow feels off... Sayaka looks pretty sad and I want to reach out for her, say something, but I can't move my body, I just sit here, next to her. There is something in her hands, is that a Grief Seed...? And why is she crying? She looks so pretty with her blue hair and her clear eyes, but also so sad...

"I've been... such a fool." She's smiling, but I can almost feel the pain coming from her. That thing in her hand... it's her Soul Gem! It's almost completely black, I have to do something! But I can't move my arms or even say anything as the tears roll down her cheeks, as the first one hits her Soul Gem there's a strange sound and everything gets distorted all of a sudden, I'm thrown away by something... Sayaka's body as well, there's something dark...

"**SAYAKAAAAAA!**" This was my voice, but I wasn't the one calling, I wanted to, but I didn't... what's going on here...? I hold onto some kind of pole and in front of me is... a Witch! Music starts to play... I transformed just now, evade some strange wheels and jump to catch Sayaka, I have to save her! Well, I'm not really doing anything, but I still try... That thing looks like some kind of a deranged knight with a fin... The Witch is screaming now, it almost sounds like... "What the hell? What are you? What have you done to Sayaka?!"

I can feel her, still warm in my arms, but she doesn't move a single muscle, her blue hair is covering her eyes completely... What is all this!? Now there are tracks for trains and musical notes forming in thin air, this has to be the labyrinth materialising all around us, I need to destroy that Witch! I get on the tracks and try to approach it, but one of the wheels is getting too close, at this rate I won't be able to...! Suddenly there is a bang and the wheel is gone...

"Get back." So Homura did come to help me, I guess. She disappears almost immediately and for a moment nothing happens, then an explosion goes off where the Witch is... Did she kill it? I can't see anything... Within mere seconds the smoke clears and Homura is standing in front of me, but the Witch is also still there. "Hold on." She holds out her hand to me as the Witch gives off a noise that sounds like the horn of a train, blowing the remaining smoke away...

"What are you...?" I don't even know what I try to ask, but there are a lot of questions I'd have for her right now...

"Just do it!" I don't exactly trust her, but I have no other choice but to hold onto her hand, no matter what she's planning... Her shield makes a strange noise and after a second everything around us just stops, the Witch, the wheels, the music, everything except for us. This has to be her doing, so that's how she just teleported somewhere else, she didn't really teleport, she just stopped time and got there, I guess...

"She's..."

"If you let go of me, time will stop for you as well. Be careful." She just starts running and drags me along...

"What's going on? Where did that Witch come from?!" Now that's a good question, I can't imagine it targeted us or something like that, Witches ain't that smart...

"That Witch is Miki Sayaka. You have seen it yourself, haven't you?" What the hell!? Is she saying that when Sayaka's Soul Gem...

"Are we running away?" We should probably fight it, try to retrieve her Grief Seed or something, maybe we could...

"Drop that useless burden if you want to come along. Let's kill that Witch. Can you do that?" And I thought I was being cold to Sayaka before...

"Are you mental!?" Exactly my question...

"You'll just be a hindrance like that." As much as I hate to admit it, she's right... I can't doge while carrying Sayaka Sayaka and I can't use both of my hands to use my spear... I can't do anything except for watching, but still... "Get out of here for now." After a few more seconds of running I can see a bright light and we leave the twisted labyrinth of that Witch, at last... It was just a minute since it materialised, but that was more than enough for me already...

As soon as we get out Homura lets go of my hand and I drop to my knees almost instantly, Sayaka still in my arms, completely motionless... It's still a little bit blurry, but we got out... I gently move her hair out of her face, her eyes are empty, she looks so different...

...

Suddenly I'm somewhere else, I walk on some train tracks, but this looks like the real world. I have Sayaka with me, but she hasn't recovered... I can see that pink-haired girl walking towards us, though I have no idea how she found us here... She looks confused at first, but starts running towards us as soon as she recognises Sayaka in my arms... Why did it have to end like this...?

"Sayaka-chan!" They were pretty good friends, from what I understand, so it should probably be even worse for her than it is for me, but it still hurts me like hell, seeing her like this... "Sayaka-chan! What's wrong? Where is her Soul Gem? What happened to her?"

"Madoka, I'm sorry... Her Soul Gem... it turned into a Grief Seed. She became a Witch and died." Is this what Kyubey meant before? That 'something unfortunate'!? If I get my hands on that thing... that other girl, what's her face, looks just about as shocked as I feel, she collapses right in front of me... Damn it, why did this have to happen!?

"You're kidding... right?" Homura slowly walks up to Madoka and kneels down next to her, she puts an arm around her shoulder. So even she has something resembling compassion left, I guess...

"It's the truth. That's the final secret of the Soul Gems." Now she takes hers out and shows it to that girl, it's a rather bright violet. "When the gem gets tainted and turns black, we become Grief Seeds and turn into Witches. That's the unavoidable fate of all who become Magical Girls." Damn that Kyubey, so he tricked us even more than I thought... A train is passing by, but we don't really care for something like that right now...

"It's not true... Tell me it's not true... Please!" So in short, we're all screwed... Homura pulls that girl a little bit closer to herself, I guess she cares about her, for some reason... "That's... why?! She wanted to protect people from Witches... She wanted to become a hero of justice... That's the kind of Magical Girl she wanted to be... And yet..." Does she have to rub that in my face like this? I know, dammit! I know!

"She took the burden of the curse equal to that wish. She will live on now, causing suffering just as much as she was helping others earlier." I put Sayaka's body down, but she isn't responding, she almost looks as if she was just asleep... But she isn't... that girl is pushing off Homura's hand now and hugs Sayaka's body, she's crying... Just what the hell is going on here, why didn't anyone ever tell us!?

"You..." Homura pulls my arm and guides me a little bit away from Sayaka and that girl... "You should get rid of that body, discretely. Take care when you move it, you wouldn't want to get caught with it. Try to hide it so it won't be found, in the best case so it won't ever be found. It's your responsibility since you took her body with you." She can't be serious, can she!? Is she just throwing Sayaka away like that, like a piece of trash!?

"Are you even human!?" She looks a little bit sad for a moment, but quickly pushes it aside.

"Of course not. And neither are you." I want to hit her so bad...

...

The scene changes again, this time much faster. This is... one of the better hotel rooms, it's pretty much just below my room. Sayaka is lying on the bed and I take out my Soul Gem, it gives off a bright red light, but Sayaka still doesn't do anything, she really seems to be gone... Kyubey is here as well, but before I can understand anything he's saying the place fades away already, this is getting kind of confusing...

...

And a new scene emerges, this time I'm somewhere in the city, with Homura and that girl from before, Sayaka's best friend... we talk for a little bit, but I could only pick up some scraps of the conversation, her name seems to be Kaname Madoka. It's just some half-baked plan, from what I understood I want Madoka to call for Sayaka and get her to remember somehow while I protect her with Homura, but hey, it's better than doing nothing.

...

Once more the scene changes, we're back in the labyrinth, from what I can tell we're losing... If we went all out against it we'd probably be able to beat it, but that's Sayaka, for crying out loud! There's no way I could fight her like that before knowing for sure that it's impossible to save her, I don't know if I could do it if it was impossible... Homura is also a real help for me, she's protecting Madoka with her ability and helps me out when I need it.

"Sayaka-chan! Please, stop, we're all here for you...!" Madoka's words don't seem to reach her at all, she just continues swinging her sword like a mad conductor, more and more wheels crash down onto the floor around me and I can't even block them all any longer, I'm way too tired already... I want to call out to her, I want it to be my voice that reaches her, not Madoka's, but I know it'd probably just upset her even more...

"We should withdraw if you don't want to kill it. We can't keep this up forever, we have to escape and let it continue, or we have to kill it right here." No matter how much I don't want to believe Homura, I know she's right, if we keep this up we'll be done for. My body hurts like hell, there's blood all over me and I can barely stay on my feet, even if I wanted to escape now I probably couldn't and somehow I rather want to stay here, with Sayaka...

"Homura... We need to protect that which is most important to us, no matter what. Go ahead and take Madoka out of here, just as I will protect what's the most important thing for me, I'll... take care of Sayaka." Homura gives me a strange look for a moment, as if she wanted to tell me not to do this, but I think she understands it. She nods and the next moment both her and Madoka are gone...

"Sayaka... I should've told you much sooner, but I do care for you, so very much... Well, you probably can't even hear me any more, but I want you to know that..." What is this me even saying? I can feel myself kneeling down and taking out my Soul Gem, then my body... I put my hands around it as if I was praying, I already understand what will happen next... It was foreseeable that this would be the eventual conclusion, I guess...

"I know how you must feel, I've been just as lonely back then, when I lost my family... But I won't leave you all alone here, I'll stay with you, no matter what!" Some great spears erupt from the ground, I know that this sort of magic will probably use up my Soul Gem, but even so, I wouldn't stop, even if that's how things will turn out, even if I had control over my body I wouldn't...

"Please, God... Look at the life I've lived, let me have a happy dream, for once in my life..." I haven't prayed since the day when **it** happened, that horrible day when all I wished for was destroyed by my father, a self-proclaimed 'man of God'... but I'm just not strong enough on my own and there's no one else left, if there is a benevolent god he'd surely listen to me, just this once... I kiss my Soul Gem, throw it into the air and...

...

"**SAYAKAAA!**" Just when my Soul Gem was about to reach its breaking point I come back to my senses, I can move again... I'm awake now, in my dirty little room, with the empty packaging and a bunch of broken pockys all over my futon, damn it... I hate it to waste food, even more so when there are crumbs all over my futon, but I don't even really care about that right now... I'm covered in sweat and feel as if I had a fever, was that just a nightmare...?

No, I don't think so, I was aware of how surreal it all felt, though it was pretty strange to see and feel what happened to my body and what I did, but not being in control of it... I wonder if there's anything to it, if us Magical Girl would really turn into Witches once our Soul Gems get too tainted... Hmpf, thinking about it won't do me any good, what I need now are answers and I think I know where I could get some...

I collect all the pieces of pocky in the box which would still qualify as edible and my definition of that word is pretty generous. I have a couple of other boxes stored here, but I definitely won't waste any food, I vowed I'd never do that again... I should probably beat my futon sometime as well and bring the sheets and some clothes to the next laundry shop, but I have other priorities right now...

I open up the window and get out, afterwards I carefully close it again and change into my Magical Girl outfit to jump to the next roof. This way is much faster than running or walking through the streets, I only take that way if I want to think about something on my way. Homura's apartment is pretty close by, it might be a little bit strange for her if it was just some kind of silly nightmare, but if it wasn't...!

It's not as if I'd care about what she thinks of me anyway, for all I care she can think I'm crazy and what not, if that was the case I'd go and search myself a rat to interrogate... I'm pretty sure that at least one of them should know something about that if it has even a germ of truth. And if it does...? If it does we'll have to come up with a better plan than last time, or what we did in that dream or whatever it was... Here we are, I frantically bang against the door...

"Homura, open this door, right now!" It doesn't take her very long, after roughly two seconds the door already opens, Homura is standing right in front of me, in her usual attire, though there are dark circles around her eyes and she looks as if she'd fall back asleep any second... She looks pretty confused at first, but she quickly regains her composure and glares at me, I guess I'd react the same way if someone hauled me out of my bed...

"What, if I may ask, is the meaning of this? I don't think we agreed on three in the morning..." I just push myself past her and she closes the door right behind me, I guess she understands that this is something really important... That's right, this might be about Sayaka's life, I had to come here and confirm my suspicions or disperse them... I do hope it's the latter, but I get this lingering feeling that it's not... "Would you start explaining yourself now? Did you clash with that Miki-san again or is it something else?"

"Uh, not really, though it is about her..." Homura raises an eyebrow and looks at me, though I'm not too sure whether she will believe me or not, she is the only one I can turn to, if this dream was true Kyubey absolutely can't be trusted. Not that he could be trusted to begin with, he didn't tell us anything about what happens to our souls after we make a contract with him... "You see, I had a strange dream about her..."

"Well, isn't that great? Sorry, I must have forgotten about inviting you over for a slumber party so we could interpret our dreams together, oh goodness, I didn't even remember to buy any snacks in advance..." She rolls her eyes and looks about ready to kick me out for a moment, but I return her glare and I guess she understands that I'm being serious about it... "So, what is this really about?"

"You see, in that dream... Sayaka's Soul Gem turned into a Grief Seed when it got too tainted..." Now she looks clearly confused and somewhat worried, so she might know something, otherwise she'd just laugh it off... "We were trying to get her to become Sayaka again by having Madoka calling out to that Witch, but it failed and I kind of ended up dying in the end, I guess, I send you and Madoka away and did something... Could you interpret that dream for me?"

"So you remember..." 'Remember'!? Is she trying to say something like that really happened...? But that's ridiculous, if that was true it would be impossible for both Sayaka and myself to be alive right now if it did happen... Well, I wouldn't even be surprised any longer, now that I know that we might just turn into Witches eventually... "Hm, it is a small chance, but I'm willing to grasp at straws. What do you want to do with this knowledge?"  
"Since you seem to know more about this than I do you should do the explaining, shouldn't you? It's not as if I knew anything about how we could prevent this from happening." What does she even mean, she's 'willing to grasp at straws'? Homura heaves a heavy sigh and takes a gun out of her shield all of a sudden, how does that thing even work...? "Hey, what do you think you're doing with that thing!?"

"I rather wouldn't have an eavesdropper, how about you?" I turn around and look into the same direction as she does, those red eyes... that damn little critter found his way in again.

"Just when it was about to get interesting... I know a lot more about these things than Homura could, you know? I could even help you..." I don't exactly trust Homura, but she seems to be the lesser evil in this case, Kyubey would probably just make things even worse than they already are... Though I don't understand why he does what he does I'm sure it wouldn't be in my best interest, not to mention Sayaka's...

"Get the hell outta here, or I'll stab you in the face again, no matter how many others of you would come!" He'd probably just tell us more lies to manipulate us into doing whatever he thinks of as a favourable outcome, it's better if he's nowhere near us when we talk about these things...

"I get it, no need to be so aggressive... I will just wait and see what kind of a plan you might develop on your own..." Somehow it sounds as if he was mocking us just now, but he does leave, now we'll just have to figure out our next steps... I guess we'll have a long night ahead of ourselves, Homura will have to explain herself and then we need to think of some way to save Sayaka, no matter what...

...

**Author's note**: Well, we don't really have much more to say about this, yet another new story, but this one is long overdue, we wanted to write a story about Sayaka and Kyouko for ages and since Daniel's helping me out again we got started right away. This pairing is our absolute favourite one, seeing how it's our favourite anime with our favourite characters, music and art style, we just loved the series.

If you detect any errors in terms of spelling and grammar, feel free to point them out. If there is anything contradicting the canon of Madoka Magica we'd ask you to point that out so that we may correct it if possible as well, we'll try to keep it close to what the canon established in some regards, but we aren't Gen Urobuchi and we like Kyouko x Sayaka, so there will most likely be things going against canon. Well, it will hopefully be bearable to read this...

If you'd want us to we could also use the 'Author's note' section in the future to elaborate on some questions you might have.

If you have a questions feel free to write us a review or a pm, we'll answer as soon as possible and if your question/statement is of interest to the whole audience we'll also address it in the next chapter, either in the story itself or as an addition of the 'Author's note' if it can't/shouldn't be answered in the story itself for some reason. Of course we won't spoil anything before it happens in the story, but you can still ask, maybe we failed to notice something as well.


	2. No going back

**Sayaka's POV**, after school

...

I didn't go to school today, I didn't even return home last night, I just looked for some Witches or Familiars to throw myself into battle again, that's all I'm good for, after all... I didn't find any, but someone has to search them, now that Mami-san is gone... I can't leave the people of this city to their demise, so what if the Familiars don't drop Grief Seeds!? What's their problem, if they didn't make a contract they'd be at the mercy of those creatures!

Today is the day, huh? Hitomi will steal Kamijou-kun away from me now, yet she called herself my friend just yesterday, it's so unfair... I was the one who always visited him, she just saw him again when he was able to return to school, because of my stupid wish...

I hide behind a pillar and watch them as they walk and talk by the riverside, past a small waterfall, on a bench, it looks so romantic... It should be me, walking there next to him, talking to him, confessing to him... But it's Hitomi! They seem to get along so well, both of them don't care about me at all! Why!? I bet they didn't even notice I was missing today! I almost want to jump out there and cut them to...!

What am I even thinking?! I should really be ashamed of myself, Mami-san would never want someone like me to be her ally, if I think like that I can't be a hero of justice... That's right, I shouldn't even care about Kamijou-kun and Hitomi, he isn't worth it if he's just as superficial as her... So why?! Why do I feel like crying?! I can't be a hero if I'm this weak, crying just because of this...

'Who cares about all that crap anyways...? Love, justice... You know, Kyouko was right, if you want your Kamijou-san all to yourself you should just go out there and kill Hitomi, afterwards you can break him and make him yours...' That's not... That's not true at all, I'd never do something like that, I could never...! It's just useless, everything... Love, justice, friendship... I'd be better off without any of those...

It hurts so much, but it's true, I should just throw all of that away, if I fight with hatred and give in to that impulse of destruction I'm strong, I can kill Familiars and even Witches that way, it'd probably even be enough for those two... We shouldn't fight against each other, but they are enemies of humanity, I can't allow that...! I feel so heavy, this anger is all that's keeping me above the deep and dark waters, without it I'd just drown... I have to find something to...!

...

"**HRAAAA!**" I finally found some, I put all my force into my attacks and cut through them, they almost look like humans... I scream as I slash them, but it doesn't bring me the satisfaction it did before, it feels so pointless... They don't even manage to hit back, they're all destroyed already... It was too easy, they were too small, but still, I'm struggling for air... I undo my transformation, it's already this late... Wait, someone's coming... her!

"Why don't you understand? We wouldn't have time for this even under normal circumstances. Hunt only Witches." I kind of wonder what it would be like to cut through human flesh, or much rather the flesh of another Magical Girl... Would it be any different from the Witch I cut down? Would their blood also splash all over the place...? It's so difficult not to try it, but I can't just do that, can I? I'd be no better than they are...

"Gee, thanks a ton for that advise." It's useless either way, all we can do is destroy Witches and Familiars, it doesn't matter whether we use a Grief Seed or not, it doesn't change anything in the long run... If we die Kyubey will just fool some other girls into becoming Magical Girl and everything starts over again, regardless of what we do... I don't really care, all I have left to do is to die, then I can be happy and won't have to worry about anything any more...

"Your Soul Gem is at its limit. If you don't cleanse it..." If I don't cleanse it I'll probably just die, then I won't have to worry about anything any longer, I'd just be dead and that would be that... "Use this, please..." Oh, did she just stoop low enough to ask properly? This must be really important if she'd go that far, haha... She throws a Grief Seed to my feet, but I don't care about these things, I simply kick it with my heel, off into the darkness behind me.

"What are you plotting now?" I don't know what exactly it was, but something about those words seemed to hit home with her, it looked so satisfying, seeing her 'perfect' mask crumble away like that, even if it was for just a moment...

"Grow up. This is no time to be suspicious. Do you hate being saved that much?" If I accepted their help or anything else from them I'd be no better than them, the Grief Seeds they have are tainted with the blood of the ones who were consumed by the Familiars who grew to be Witches because of them... If I accepted something like that I could just as well run around and kill innocent bystanders, it'd be no different from what they indirectly do...

"I'm going to be a different Magical Girl than you lot. I'm sure of it. I hate people who'd just use and abandon someone. I need no reward. I'll never use magic for my own benefit!" That's right, I didn't use my wish, my soul, because I wanted Kamijou-kun to notice me, I did it because it was the right thing to do! That won't ever change, no matter what kind of a person he is, it doesn't matter if he won't look at me...

"You're dying." Haha, as if I didn't feel it already, every breath of air I inhale is more difficult than the last one, every movement drains me of what little energy I've left... I'm drowning, but I don't mind at all...

"Once I'm dead that means I don't have to kill any more Witches. I'll finally have completed my task. I'm okay with that." I can't even stay on my own feet any longer, I fall on my knees right in front of her... "I can't even beat a Witch! I have no reason to exist!" That's right, I only managed to kill two Witches during my whole time as a Magical Girl and I didn't even manage to kill that last one on my own... I'm a complete failure, at everything...

"So why are you doing this? I just want to help you. Why won't you believe me?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's just intuition. I can tell you're a liar." I look up at her again, this time with a darker look than before. I won't let her deceive me, no matter what. I won't be used by anyone any more..."You always look like you've given up on everything. You're always speaking empty words. And right now, you say you're doing this for my sake, but I bet you're really after something completely different. Don't think you can fool me."

"Don't you know how much you're hurting Madoka?" Of course I know how much I'd hurt her, that's one of the reasons why I didn't come back to school or back home, I want to die like this, all alone... If a witch does it they'll never even find my body, no one will have to worry about me at all... Isn't that the best fate us Magical Girl can hope for either way? Mami-san didn't have it bad at all, it was a quick and painless death, is it so much to ask for the same...?

"Madoka? She has nothing to do with this." I convulse my hand a little bit, somewhere I know that it isn't that easy for me, in a way I can almost envy Mami-san now for not having anyone to leave behind except for Madoka and myself, they didn't even notice she was missing until almost a week had passed... My parents would probably even come home for something this big and they'd be just as worried as Madoka... Though Kamijou-kun and Hitomi probably wouldn't even come to my funeral if my body was found, somehow...

"No... everything revolves around her." What does she mean by that...? Maybe she is just like Kyubey, after the potential Madoka seems to have... I can't allow that! She changes into her Magical Girl uniform... "You're sharp. In fact, you're exactly correct. I don't want to help you. I simply don't want Madoka to have to watch your fall. If you refuse my aid, only death awaits you. If you hurt Madoka any more... I'll kill you myself right now, Miki Sayaka." Her Soul Gem is dazzling me with its light...

"Do it. If it's better for Madoka, for everyone..." That's all I can manage, I take out my Soul Gem and offer it to her, it would be for the best if I just died here either way... I have nothing left, Kamijou-kun doesn't care about me and I hurt Madoka too much already... It'd be better if this would end now, I wouldn't have to worry about anything any more, I could just rest... Somehow I believe her this time, she is honest about Madoka, so I have nothing to worry about, she can take care of her once I am no more...

"That's... I will... I'll really shoot you, I won't hesitate!" She makes a gun appear out of her shield, I just hold my Soul Gem out to her... Why is her hand shaking? Wasn't she just saying she wouldn't hesitate...? I can hear steps further down the hall... A civilian? Not around this time... I'm suddenly knocked back by something, I don't even feel it, I just realise it as my field of view changes... Before me is Akemi Homura, on the ground, someone tied her up...

"Quick! Run away!" That red hair, is that... Kyouko...? It really is, that thing holding the transfer student in place is her strange spear... I don't really understand why, but my body obeys her to its best ability, I slowly get up and move away, though even my movements rather remind me of a zombie from those movies now, it's more of a stumbling than running, it would almost be a miracle if I won't fall down soon...

...

**Kyouko's POV**

...

"What's wrong with you!? You were supposed to be saving her!" Not to mention what has to be wrong with Sayaka right now, if Homura didn't hesitate for some reason she'd be dead now... Why did she have to reject that Grief Seed!?

"Let me go." This is definitely somewhat amusing...

"Oh, I get it. If I've got a grip on you, you can't use that technique of yours." That sound again... A grenade!? I quickly jump back as she pulls the trigger, just after that she vanishes and the grenade explodes... I'm thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion, but I guess that was lucky, under the circumstances, it was a flash grenade, so I was lucky that I didn't look at it, but I've lost Homura and Sayaka... I stomp on the ground in frustration. "Damn it!"

There's no helping it, I'll just have to search her by foot, I just hope Homura didn't go after her... I can still sense some traces of her Soul Gem, if this feeling is anything to go by she's almost overflowing with negative energy, this isn't good at all... At least I can follow that, though my instincts are basically screaming 'fight-or-flight'... Hmpf, screw them, I'm going after her, I'll get her back, this time for sure, not like that other timeline...

...

**Sayaka's POV**, on the train

...

I guess I got away from the transfer student, I somehow made it to this train, though I don't know why I even bothered, it would've probably been better if I just let her do it, it's not as if I had enough fight left in me to even finish off a Familiar, not to mention a Witch... Why did Kyouko even try to make me run away, it's not as if she got anything out of it... Who cares? It's just Kyouko, after all, I couldn't care less, isn't that right...?

"Gimme a fuckin' break! She already blew all the cash I gave her! Dumb bitches don't know how to hold onto money, I tell ya." And those two idiots, just my luck, of all the people that could've been here it has to be two pigs like them...

"Women may as well not even be human. They're like dogs or something. They get excited like a goddamn puppy. But all you need to do to shut 'em up is give 'em a good smacking. Slacken the leash a little bit and they're all over the damn couch. Can't let 'em get too comfortable. What, you think a bar slut like you is gonna be doing that well ten years from now? Know your fuckin' place, right?"

Those people... I fight to protect worthless trash like them as well...? It would be better if a Witch got them, they'd deserve something like that... Or maybe I should do the world a favour and do it myself... What little magic I have left would still be more than enough for them, I should paint this place with their blood, maybe that would bring me the relief I hoped to get from fighting those Familiars... I get up and walk towards them, slowly...

"Man, you're good at dumping them when they end up more trouble than what they're worth. I need to learn your tricks." I have enough of them, I just want to shut them up... or maybe have them scream out with a fraction of the pain I feel...

"Tell me more about her." These two... if they're even close to as bad as they seem, wouldn't it be better to kill them right here...?

"What?"

"About the woman you're talking about. I want to hear more about her." There should be laws against the very existence of scumbags like this, it would be so easy to just reach out and break their weak little necks, to wring the life out of them, to slice them into pieces...!

"Hey, babe, you're too young to be out this late." Doesn't he even realise how much he has to be hurting her!? Maybe he really doesn't know it, doesn't understand it, just as Kamijou-kun doesn't understand my feelings...

"She cares about you. She works hard to make you happy. You understand that, don't you? But you treat her like a dog. You don't even thank her. When she does something you don't like, you dump her." This is the world... I was protecting until now... this world, where everything is so wrong... this world, where people like them don't just exist, they thrive... this world, where one of my friends steals Kamijou-kun from me, just like that...

"What, you know her or somethin'?" I want them to understand, but if that's not possible I will... I will...

"No..." The brakes, I'll be getting off at the next station, otherwise...

"Is this world worth protecting? What have I been fighting for? Tell me! Tell me right away! Otherwise..." I can feel the darkness all around me, it's enveloping me, it's making me stronger! With this strength, it would be so easy, so damn easy to just crush them! They're stuttering in front of me, like frightened little pigs when the butcher comes by... it would be so easy to let go of these few things keeping me from doing that, so very easy...

"W-what the hell!? What's goin' on here, man!? H-help me!" I grab him by the throat with my right hand and push him against the wall, I can't even see him any more, it's all so grey and dark... his so-called 'friend', I guess, is cowering away from me, there's nothing that could save him now... I slowly lift him up, into the air, he's making gurgling noises and struggling, but I don't even feel his kicks, they don't affect me at all... I materialise a sword and push it against his chest...

"You will go back to that woman and apologise, do you understand me? I asked you a question... **DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?**" My voice sounds so strange, but it seems to work... His eyes widen and he nods frantically, I could just push the sword into his chest and he'd never do something like that again... No, this isn't me! Damn it, what am I even doing!? I throw the man away and put my sword away, this isn't something I can do... "If I ever hear you talking like this again... I won't hesitate...!"

They're both cowering away from me now, as if I was some kind of a monster... Maybe that's not even too far from the truth, what I almost did right now... Mami-san would be ashamed for that, and Madoka, my family, Kamijou-kun... I push back against the darkness this time, I push it away from me, but it's still lingering all around me... That hissing sound... the doors open, I stumble out of the wagon while the frightened men stay...

The train departs again, I almost did something I would never be able to undo back there... I get to the closest bank and let my body slump into it, standing is too much of a hassle at this point... My body is barely responding to my orders now, it's so hard to even breathe in air... I should rest for a little bit, it shouldn't be much longer now, I won't live much longer, I have nothing to keep me alive, absolutely no reason...

...

"I finally found ya..." ... Kyouko...? I can't even tell how long I've been sitting here, I don't feel much better... She takes a seat next to me and takes out something, presumably something to eat... "How long are you gonna keep blowing off your friends?" Sounds like potato crisps or something like that... and what 'friends' is she even talking about...? There was only Madoka, I don't have any other friends any more... Wait, she probably isn't my friend any more, after what I told her...

"Sorry to bother you." I didn't want anyone to be here with me, I just wanted to be all alone and die already, but I guess that won't be happening... well, it's not as if it would be bad for Kyouko to see this, I'll just die, it shouldn't concern her...

"What's wrong? You're not acting like yourself." I don't even know what it is, but to be honest...

"I just don't care any more. What do I even care about any more? Who do I want to protect? I don't even know any more." What was even so important that I thought I'd have to protect it, so important that I sacrificed my very soul to accomplish it...? I don't even know any more...

"Hey..." I finally find enough strength in myself to move again, I take out my Soul Gem... It's almost black now, it shouldn't last much longer... Kyouko looks pretty surprised, but I knew that it would probably looks like this, it looks like the depths of the sea, where almost no light reaches... Soon it will be deep enough for no light to reach there at all, in my soul... She takes out a Grief Seed and holds it out to me, but I just push her hand away with what little strength I have left, it rolls off, somewhere into the darkness...

"The balance of hope and despair is always zero. You said so yourself. I understand what you meant now. I've saved plenty of people." I take it a little bit closer to my face and stare into it, it almost looks as if something was moving in it, calling for me... 'Maybe it would've been better if you didn't save those people from the Witch, then Hitomi wouldn't have...' "But in exchange, resentment and pain took root in my heart. I'm even hurting my dearest friend now."

"Sayaka! Are you-!?" She sounds genuinely worried now, but it's just too late already... My last chance to save myself, I threw it away just now... but I don't regret doing that, it's for the best, no matter how I look at it, I **should** die here...

"As much as I wished for the happiness of one... Someone else must be equally cursed. That's how the story of a Magical Girl goes..." I can't even hold in my tears any longer, they just flow down, right in front of Kyouko, of all people... I didn't curse Hitomi for my misery, I took it all upon myself... I do my best to offer her one last smile, in spite of my tears, if I have to die anyways I want it to be like this, with a smile... "I've been... such a fool."

...

**Homura's POV**, some minutes ago, at the fountain

...

I made it just in time again, like last time, Madoka was just about to make a contract with Kyubey to save Miki Sayaka, but that would be Madoka's downfall and it didn't save Miki-san either... I shouldn't have hesitated back then, I should have pulled the trigger and helped her out of her misery, she even asked for it... But I didn't, it would've been the first time I'd kill someone, I'm just not ready... yet. If this isn't the last timeline I have to go through I will probably end up doing that as well, especially if it's her...

Miki-san... I can't say we ever got along very well, not in any of the timelines I've been through so far, every time she became a Magical Girl something went terribly wrong, she always ended up turning into a Witch... Even if it isn't really her fault, her stupid ideals can't do anything but lead her to such an end, those values don't work for us. I take out a gun and shoot it, this way Madoka can't make a contract.

It is for the best, Miki Sayaka cannot be saved, no matter what I did, keeping her alive only makes matters worse for me, she will probably just convince Madoka that she should make some stupid wish, if that did happen this timeline is over and I will have to restart everything. It shouldn't take much longer, she will soon turn into a Witch... but this time I won't agree to help Kyouko with her insane plans, I would destroy that Witch, but Kyouko doesn't take that very well and either attacks me or turns to a Witch herself if I kill that Witch... I let time resume and the bullets pierce it.

"W-what...?" Madoka looks rather scared, but even so, I had to do it. I don't want Madoka to think badly of me, but there is no way around that, if I want to save her I have no other choice... That's right, I will do anything, just to save her, since Tomoe Mami already died of her own folly, she is another one of those persons I just can't seem to get along with... "That's just too cruel... Why did you do this!?"

"Madoka..." It's so hard to keep this up, to stay strong in front of Madoka, I don't care about the others that much any more, I lost any faith I had in them in all those different timelines... Tomoe Mami, she went mad with the revelation of our eventual fate and killed Sakura Kyouko and tried to kill me as well, but Madoka stopped her... Miki Sayaka, she either became a Witch or caused other problems... and Sakura Kyouko, she always went down with Miki-san, I think we have some things in common, always trying to save that one person, always failing...

"Why!?" It's almost time, soon Miki Sayaka will become a Witch, as she already did so often... I have to keep Madoka here, I can't allow her to witness that horrific sight, it's almost heartbreaking to see her last moments, she tries to stay strong and rejects any help until her very last moment, I do feel sorry for her... but I accept that, it's impossible to prevent because she won't let others help her and once she transforms there's no return...

"It... was necessary. Don't worry about it, another one will arrive here soon." Of course Madoka doesn't understand it yet, but it doesn't matter how many of them I kill, there are always more. They aren't sentient, they are the same as mass-produced robots. Incubator... I wonder what exactly they are, Kyubey is just a messenger but there is no way of knowing that, they hide their secrets very well. But what should I do about Madoka...?

"W-what are you even talking about? You killed him!" She sobs a little bit as she does her best to look away from the corpse of it, she is too good for her own good... that's why she always suffers in the end, because she makes some stupid wish for someone else... It doesn't make much of a difference whether it's a wish for oneself or someone else, they are always likely to turn into nightmares and our eventual fate is all the same... "What about... Sayaka-chan?"

"You should give up on her, Sakura Kyouko is trying to save her, but you shouldn't get your hopes up, that would be in vain." So far I have witnessed no timeline where she succeeded and I repeated this month more times than I can even keep track of... sometimes someone remembers a little fragment from a different timeline, though I don't know why that is, but it rarely changes anything and even if it does that's rarely for the better...

"But Sayaka-chan is my best friend! I can't just give up on her like that, I can't!" I have to admit that I feel a certain envy towards Miki-san as well, she is the closest friend of Madoka, if I act as I do I can't ever hope to get close to Madoka again... but if that is what it takes to save her I will do it, even if I have to push her away from me, she might even end up hating me... But as long as Madoka makes it through this I don't care what happens to me or anyone else...

"I know that very well, but please believe me, I'm not saying this to hurt you..." I know that it does hurt her, but maybe she will understand it this time and not wish Miki-san back... I much rather wouldn't have to deal with her any more, to be honest, she would probably just set Madoka and Kyouko up against me, if she could... She might seem to be an idiot and that might be true for the most part, but she can be surprisingly resourceful when it comes to dragging others down with her...

"I... I don't want to believe you, Sayaka-chan can't be...!" *Sigh* That notion is understandable, they were friends for many years now, but it won't do her any good to believe in Miki-san any longer, it won't bring her back and only a Grief Seed could save her now, but she won't take it... I tried forcing her to use one once, that didn't work, I never understood why or how, but she rejected the one I offered to her somehow and turned to a Witch immediately...

"Madoka... Please, trust me, just this once, don't make a contract with Kyubey!" If only she didn't make a contract, I'd 'just' have to worry about Walpurgisnacht, if I can convince Kyouko to aid me we could probably defeat it this time, it didn't work in the earlier timelines, but I'm not that weak any more. I can fight now and Kyouko would be my first choice as a partner, Mami never lasted long in that fight and Miki-san never makes it that far...

"I can't, not if you're saying that Sayaka-chan will..." Her reactions so far... I will probably have to reset this timeline as well, though I'm not willing to give up just yet, not until there really is nothing that can be done about it. Miki-san... She really is a problem, I can't tell how she does it, but I can't seem to fool her... I don't know what it is with her, but she can tell when I lie, no matter what kind of an act I put up...

"Madoka... I will go and try to rescue her, if that is what you want me to. However, if I fail I want you to accept her fate and you won't wish her back, can you accept that?" I can still try it, though it's most likely too late already, I can sense the cursed air she had about herself even here, a Witch born from such curses is truly a terrifying opponent... I only remember beating it with the help of Mami, Kyouko and Madoka, had they not weakened it first...

"I... that's..." And there was that time when Kyouko sacrificed herself to destroy it, but I shouldn't let that happen, I will need her if I want to stand a chance against Walpurgisnacht... Miki Sayaka truly is much more of a problem than I thought at first, she ruined a lot of timelines all on her own..."I will accept... but only if you do everything in your power to save her, alright? If you promise that I'll accept..."  
"Very well, I will do whatever I can do to save her, though I would still advise against getting your hopes up." Maybe this timeline isn't lost just yet, after all... Of course I'm not referring to Miki-san, but if Madoka keeps her promise I might be able to save her! Though I also shouldn't get my hopes up, no Magical Girl should, that only serves to make us succumb to despair even sooner... I have to be patient if I want to save Madoka...

"H-Homura-chan, wait..." I turn around and look at her once more, she looks strangely... relieved? This isn't the way things would usually be, she would run after Miki-san or cry here, but this reaction is something I haven't seen yet, there are a lot of strange things in this timeline, that could be a good sign... or a sign of an impending catastrophe. "Regardless of what will happen next, I want to thank you..."

"If you want to thank me do so by not making a contract with Kyubey, that's all I ask for. You should go home." It is a little bit bothersome that most timelines are quite different from the others, otherwise I could learn about the reactions of the others and act accordingly, but their behaviour changes ever so slightly with every new timeline... sometimes they seem exactly the same like one of the others to a certain point, like this one, but what will happen next...

I can't quite tell, things could go as they did last time, if they do I will have to think of a way to prevent Kyouko from sacrificing herself, she is the last Magical Girl in the vicinity... It would all be much easier if Miki-san had accepted the Grief Seed, but she never did use one when it was necessary, not even once... I can't tell why that is, but she seems to reject them completely. Considering their true nature that would probably be very ethical, but ethics aren't something we can affort and she shouldn't know that to begin with.

It is surprising that Miki Sayaka hasn't become a Witch already, it was always around this time... Could it be that Kyouko somehow convinced her, that she made her use a Grief Seed...? If that was to be true I will have to consider this timeline 'irregular', it deviates from the 'regular' timelines too much, though there hasn't been one of those which had a favourable outcome for me these timelines are still my best bet to reach my desired goal...

W-what was that?! I could feel a tremendous amount of energy just now, it almost felt like a shockwave passing through here... I have never felt anything like this, it reminds me a little bit of the timelines when Madoka became a Magical Girl, but it isn't the quite same, I can't really tell how it's different, but it is... it came from the same direction where Miki-san went off to, I need to hurry... What did those idiots do!? If they both turned into Witches I can forget about this timeline, but I really can't place that feeling...

...

**Kyouko's POV**, at the station

...

"I finally found ya..." Finding her wasn't really the difficult part though, I could probably even get a vague feeling of this negative energy from the other end of the city... The only reason it took me so long was because I had to follow her by foot, since she was using a train it took a while to catch up to her. She doesn't even look up from her seat, her beautiful blue hair is completely hiding her eyes. I'm glad I arrived here in time... I take the seat next to her and take out some crisps. "How long are you gonna keep blowing off your friends?"

"Sorry to bother you." I eat one of them, but I'm really worried now, this didn't sound good at all, it sounds wrong, something like that coming from Sayaka, where did all that fight she had in herself go? She'd have a sharp reply for me any other day, but right now she sounds just as a hero would if he was defeated, if all of his dreams were lying shattered in front of him... it really hurts me to see her like this, she used to be so bright...

"What's wrong? You're not acting like yourself." Seriously, it's almost as if someone had replaced her with a doll or something, the Sayaka I know would be swinging her sword around with 'righteous fury' and go on and on with a grand speech about heroism and justice or something like that... Well, that could be a little bit exaggerated, but I'd still feel much more comfortable if she did something like that, she's kinda creeping me out right now...

"I just don't care any more. What do I even care about any more? Who do I want to protect? I don't even know any more." Damn it, she seems to be doing worse than I thought... She never once doubted her wish, no matter how many times I told her how stupid that was, she always went ahead and defended it, not once did she doubt that... It reminds me a lot of how I used to be after **it** had happened...

"Hey..." I almost want to reach out for her, but that would probably just agitate her... She opens her hands and reveals what she was hiding there, that thing... Is that her Soul Gem?! It looks exactly as it did in my dream, it's almost black! Holy cow, I knew that this might happen eventually, but this soon!? I should've recognised this scene, it looks exactly as it did in that dream... I quickly take out a Grief Seed and offer it to her, but she weakly pushes my hand aside and it rolls off and disappears in a drain, I consider following it, but there's no time...!

"The balance of hope and despair is always zero. You said so yourself. I understand what you meant now. I've saved plenty of people." Damn it, I was the one who had to tell her that... I didn't know she'd take it this way, I should be more careful with her in the future, if she even has one... But now that the Grief Seed is gone, what should I do?! "But in exchange, resentment and pain took root in my heart. I'm even hurting my dearest friend now."

"Sayaka! Are you-!?" Why does she have to be so resigned to her damn fate!? I should've told her what would happen earlier, but I didn't realise she was this far already, I thought I'd have more time... I just got here, I didn't have a chance to talk to her before because Homura was trying to kill her, despite what we agreed on earlier... I have to think of something, fast, if I don't come up with some kind of plan...

"As much as I wished for the happiness of one... Someone else must be equally cursed. That's how the story of a Magical Girl goes..." She's smiling and crying at the same time now, she's frickin' serious about this crap! Think, Kyouko, think! Let's see, I need a Grief Seed, but I have none and can't get that one back in time... A Soul Gem turns into a Grief Seed, when tainted enough... No time to think this through, I'll try it! "I've been... such a fool."

I snatch her Soul Gem out of her hand, she doesn't even resist any more, it's the centre of all these negative energies around here, but I need to try it... If a Soul Gem can turn into a Grief Seed it might just be able to substitute as a Grief Seed as well. I have no idea what might happen if I do this, but I push her Soul Gem against my own, that's the only thing I could come up with, it seems logical enough, right...? As I push them together a dazzling light shines, it's almost blinding me, and...

"**AAARRGH! FUUUUCK!**" DAMMIT! This frickin' hurts! It feels as if I was set on fire, my whole body hurts so much right now! Is this what she went through this whole time!? I press our Soul Gems together even stronger, I can't let go now... it feels as if every part of my body was either cut, bruised or had a broken bone underneath, though they don't really appear I can still feel them, so many different kinds of pain at once...! I have to stay strong, I have to...!

"Stop it, just leave me alone!" It seems as if it did something, Sayaka is moving again, she even gets up... I barely see it because of the tears in my eyes, this pain is really something else... Damn it, I've never felt this horrible, if it gets any worse I'll collapse on the spot... After some more seconds the pain finally subsides slightly, though I feel completely exhausted... "Why did you do that...? I wanted to die here, I was supposed to die here..."

"You know what...? Maybe you're right, maybe I should've left you alone, maybe I should've killed you the day when I first met you!" W-what's... what am I saying...? I suddenly feel so angry, I just want to grab her and...! What's going on here!? Why am I thinking something like that...? I shouldn't do that, I should... "You know, now that I think 'bout it, it's not too late to fix that just yet, is it?"

"What are you talking about? Why did you try to help me in the first place if that's what you think...?" She looks confused and hurt, but as I change into my battle gear she follows suit. I put our Soul Gems into one of my pockets, though they feel kind of strange... and materialise my spear, she already has her sword in hand... If I don't get my act together soon this will all have been in vain... But this anger! I just want to... 'I want to pierce her with my spear, I want to rip her apart with my bare hands! Maybe that'd ease this pain as well...'

"Alright, let's get this started!" I rush forward with my spear, but she blocks it without too much trouble, she's gotten better at this... but why isn't she fighting back...? I throw her one blow upon the other, but she just evades my attacks and parries some others, she isn't even taking me serious...! You just wait, I'll show ya! I let my spear split into many different pieces connected by a long chain, it coils around her, I've got her... I need to stop, but... with my magic I push the tip of the spear through her stomach from behind.

"Gah... Kyouko... why...?" She's still moving!? She's coming closer, despite my spear being pierced through her abdomen and the other parts coiling around her, what is she!? Her sword falls to the ground with a loud *clang* and both it and her outfit vanish... She stops just in front of me and falls to her knees... she lifts her head to look into my eyes, those beautiful blue orbs, she looks so... I don't know why, but my anger feels as if it was dissipating, leaving a sensation of emptiness and despair in its stead... my hands fall to my sides, my armour and my spear vanish, releasing her... what have I...?

"Sayaka... I didn't... I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry!" I feel the tears rising to my eyes yet again as I throw my arms around her back and hold her as close to me as I can, but that won't make this alright again, it's just the same as back then, I try to make everything right and end up destroying what's most important to me... **WHY!?** I bury my face in her shoulder, she has such a nice smell... I can still feel the pain of my body, but it's negligible in comparison... "I'm so sorry, so goddamn sorry! **SAYAKA!**"

"It was probably... the same for you. It's... alright, it doesn't... even hurt... any more." She lifts her left arm and pushes me away with very little force, I feel a little bit dejected, but what else should I expect? I ain't some goddamn prince or knight with a white horse and shining armour and Sayaka isn't my princess... still, I need to do something about this, there has to be something... "What's... wrong? You're not acting... like..." She closes her eyes and her hand falls onto her stomach, she looks so peaceful, this isn't good... I gently put her down, my hands are dyed red with her...

"Dammit, I'm sorry, Sayaka...!" This... I have to... there has to be something I can... Grief Seed...! That has to be the reason why I felt so angry, this has to mean it worked, it's the taint... I need a Grief Seed, quick... there's a pool of blood forming below Sayaka, I need that damn Grief Seed! Where did that stupid thing roll off to!? The drain! I stumble a little bit as I walk towards it, I try to push it open with all my strength, my body still hurts horribly...

Finally, I managed to push the manhole cover away, it's pretty dark in there, but I spot the Grief Seed immediately, it glistens slightly... at least it didn't roll away any further, I reach inside and take it out. I was so stupid, letting my anger take over like this, please, don't let me fail again! I hurry back to Sayaka, she's just lying there, with her eyes closed... wait, what happened to that wound I inflicted on her...? I'm sure that happened, the blood is still there, so how can this be...? She's in her school uniform again, but it doesn't look dirty at all...

Whatever, I don't care, I need to use that stupid Grief Seed, right now! Where is her Soul Gem!? I go through her pockets, but there's just her wallet and other useless stuff... Wait, I'm such an idiot, I took it with me... I reach inside the pocket where I put our Soul Gems, but there's definitely something wrong... there's only one Soul Gem, don't tell me I lost one, that would be bad... I take it out, it's heavier than mine... might be Sayaka's, fine with me, though I'll need a fix as well, considering what I used mine for...

I put the Grief Seed next to the Soul Gem in my hand, it's way too dark to see what colour it used to have before... and there's the taint, it looks like black smoke as it leaves the Soul Gem and moves to the Grief Seed. After a moment the colour becomes clear again I can see red above the vanishing taint, so it has to be mine... I guess I'll have to look for hers, should be enough for both of us. wait... as the taint continues to vanish there's another colour as well, what's going on here...?

Well, at least I don't feel so angry any more, I guess I was right, that was because of the taint... The red colour of my Soul Gem stays above, but further down, around the middle, I can see how that colour is somehow changing, there's a very small line of violet and below that it's still black... Just what the hell's goin' on here!? Did I break it by trying to use it as a Grief Seed or what...?

Whatever, I'll take a closer look at that later, for now I need to find Sayaka's Soul Gem... Where could it have gone...? I take a look at Sayaka, she seems to be doing okay, considering the circumstances, at least she's breathing this time... I go through her pockets once more, her heartbeat is steady and she feels warm, but there's nothing useful... right now it looks as if she was just sleeping peacefully... though the other side of her uniform is probably ruined because of all that blood on the ground, but that's not really important..

At least she's gotten a little bit better, when I got here her breathing was like that of a fish out of water... but it's all good now, I don't know how I did it, but I somehow did it, if nothing else there's not a gigantic mermaid knight in heavy armour throwing around with strange wheels, I think that's a pretty good sign... I'm not sure if it's over just yet, but I should have time for a quick breather for the time being, as soon as I find her Soul Gem...

"Sakura Kyouko... what is the meaning of this?" Or not... Huh, I already figured Homura would stop by sooner or later, though I'm glad she didn't come sooner... Whatever I've done, I think it worked out somehow, though I still feel a little bit strange... the exhaustion and the pain from before are gone now, I guess that was the accumulated pain and the negative emotions Sayaka suppressed all that time, how did she manage to do that? Those few seconds of it were like hell...

"I ain't got a clue, maybe you can tell me 'bout it? I was kinda out of options because Sayaka made me drop the Grief Seed I had with me, so I went ahead and tried to use my Soul Gem as a replacement, looks like it worked." Somehow I feel great right now, as if I could take on Walpurgisnacht on my own, though that'd probably be a rather silly idea... still, I feel stronger than ever, was that Grief Seed special in some way? It was the one Sayaka gave me...

"May I take a look at your Soul Gems?" She looks somewhat surprised and actually kind of curious, I guess she didn't expect this to happen. She told me how it went in some of those different timelines and I don't think she was joking about that stuff, as unbelievable as it sounds it makes sense, she was always in the right spot at the right time, though things didn't really go as she described them this time, I guess...

"Well, I only have one, but sure, look if you want." Of course I wouldn't hand it over, but I hold it out to her. Looks as if the Grief Seed is replete with the taint now, I'll have to give it to Kyubey sometime. I take a look at the Soul Gem in my hand, I let out a surprised noise, just like Homura... the upper half is still as red as it used to be, but the lower half... What the heck is that supposed to mean?! It's a bright blue, almost turquoise, that's not how it's supposed to look... How is this possible? Just what happened...?

"I don't understand this at all, how is that possible...?" Huh, just when I was thinking about him, I thought he'd show up, he was somewhat interested in what would come of this, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned what was going on with Sayaka... maybe he can explain this somehow, I don't have a clue about this... though it doesn't really sound like he could... "What transpired here...?"

"I would like to ask you that very same question, Incubator..." That's Kyubey's 'real' name', according to Homura.. He actually looks a little bit confused about that as well, if that's even possible for him. He comes a little bit closer, he really reminds me of a weird alien cat when he moves like that... I really want some answers, I think I did the right thing, but that's my soul we're talkin' about here, so I want to know what happened to it...

"Well, I don't really know what happened, I just tried to use my Soul Gem to cleanse Sayaka's and afterwards they ended up like this, I guess..." I just hope Kyubey knows some way about how to fix this, if he doesn't... I don't think Sayaka would take these news very well, though I'm feeling surprisingly calm, considering the most likely explanation for this Soul Gem I'm holding in my right hand...I take the Grief Seed and throw it at him, he catches it and it's gone.

"I would have a lot of questions for you as well, Akemi Homura, but we have no time for that right now, I will have to process this new information and postulate an extension to my current theories concerning the nature and interdependency of Soul Gems, I will inform you once we have a conceivable explanation for this." Great, so in other words I'm on my own on this one, though Sayaka is probably stuck with me, judging by the colours of that Soul Gem... Hm, I guess it ain't so bad, at least it's better than the alternative.

"Uh, I guess I'll leave Miki-san in your care... Take her home with you or something, she's your responsibility now..." What!? Before I can even ask her what that's supposed to mean she just flips back her hair and she vanishes, I guess I don't have much of a choice... I could probably carry her all the way to her home, but that'd be way too far away, as if I'd do that... and I definitely can't leave her here in her condition. I guess I'll just 'rent a room' for tonight, hopefully she'll wake up tomorrow as if nothing had happened and be somewhat reasonable...

...

**Author's note**: Just a reminder, this section has no relevance to the story, feel free to skip it. Yay for slave labour motivating Daniel to write a little bit faster because he'll be sick for a while, here's the next chapter already. Hm, I'm not too sure about what we did here, but it's been done now and why not?

Even Kyubey doesn't understand Soul Gems completely and we'll specify those things later on a little bit, though I don't wanna spoil anything and neither of us has a diploma on Soul Gem physics and chemistry, but who cares, Kyubey himself failed at normal physics... by the way, you shouldn't expect the next chapter to come out this soon, though there's a very simple way to get the next chapter sooner. You just have to... ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Forget it, I guess you'll have to wait... ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ／人◕ x◕人＼|══════════


	3. Morning Rescue

**Sayaka's POV**, the next morning

...

Mmh... Where am I...? It's pretty warm... is this the afterlife...? At least I don't think I'm in hell, though that makes little sense, where else would I be...? Heaven's out of the question, after all those things I did and said for the last few days... So I'd guess that I'm still alive... But why...? I pushed everyone away and didn't even try to do anything to keep on living, I wanted to die yesterday, just like that... though Kyouko came and seemed to try to save me at first, but then she attacked me...

Or maybe this is just some kind of strange vision before death, that could also be... though I don't think death would be like this... I don't really know where I am or what I'm doing here, but it definitely isn't my room. The ceiling has some patterns looking kind of wood-like, though I think it's just painted, it doesn't look like the real thing... I shift to my left and look around a little bit, there's something red...

"Yo, finally awake? Just 'bout time." Kyouko!? What is this...? I don't even... Why am I in one bed with her!? Why is she wearing nothing but her underwear? And why is she looking so smug with that pocky between her teeth...? Whatever, maybe she can tell me just what happened yesterday after I fainted, she should know... The last thing I remember is how she thrust her spear through my back, though I didn't really feel it, I rather saw it...

"Would you mind telling me just what the hell is going on here?!" I push back the red blanket, only to discover that I'm not wearing my school uniform either, just a plain blue sports bra and my panties... Wait, I'm pretty sure that I didn't undress myself, so that has to mean...!

"Well, I kind of lost it for a moment there after taking your stupid Soul Gem and relieving you from some of that taint you had accumulated, I kinda pierced your stomach..." I nod, I can remember that much... She pushes some of her long red hair out of her face, it looks really wild. "Well, it was one hell of a night, in the end I took you to the hotel. By the way, please don't be too angry about what I'm 'bout to tell you, it was my first time as well and I didn't really know what I was doin'..."

"W-what!?" What does she... she couldn't have... no way in hell... She can't mean... that would be way too low, even for her. There's no reason for her to... but we **are** in a hotel room and... I'm next to nude, she's also... No way... I was making jokes like this about Madoka, that I'd take her to a hotel one day and do... **that**, but this isn't funny... "You can't be serious! Tell me that you're just joking!"

"H-huh? What's gotten into you? It's not as if you left me much of a choice." She takes the pocky between her left index finger and middle finger and looks at me somewhat sympathetically, this can't be happening... She puts her right hand on my shoulder... "Come on, it's not so bad, at least you're still with us, right?" She has to be joking... now I could never get married to Kamijou-kun, even if my body wasn't as it is...

"This isn't... you're joking, right...? You'd better be..." She looks away, apparently slightly ashamed... what kind of a joke is this!? That's not something to be joking about, I swear it, if she's going to tell me it's just a joke and laugh at me I'll hit her so hard...! My first time, with Kyouko... this can't be happening, this has to be some kind of nightmare or something... I really don't know how I should deal with... this.

"You seem to be doing well. And she wasn't joking, I can verify that." This can't be real, how would Kyubey know either way?! That Kyouko would go and do something like that... why would she do that!? I can't believe this, there's just no way... If that's true she's even worse than I thought in the beginning... I feel tainted... "Though it is strange how angry you are, considering you don't even know what we were talking about so far. I really don't get you..."

"As much as I hate that thing, he's right. What are you getting so worked up? You look as if you were about to jump at me any second, and not in a good way..." What are they talking about...? Was this all just a misunderstanding...? Somehow I feel ridiculous now, of course it was just a misunderstanding... Kyouko now quickly eats the pocky and gets herself a new one... "Alright, let me explain this to you, just listen for the time being."

"Go ahead..." I'm pretty relieved about this, though I'm still worried what exactly they are talking about, I very much doubt it's a good thing, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me not to get angry... I'm alive, that's something I'm not really too happy about, but somehow I don't feel so bad about it any more, I feel pretty good overall. Except for this situation, I don't think I like that foreboding look Kyouko has...

"Well, you see, you wouldn't just have died, you were about to turn into a Witch yesterday." What...? I thought... I thought I was doing the world a favour, I thought I was just going to search some dark corner and die there quietly, that's... "Don't worry about that for now, just let it be a warning for you in case you ever feel like getting your Soul Gem tainted again. I cleansed it for you, which is where our real problems begin..."  
"So I was going to... become one of those things...?" Kyouko just nods and squeezes my shoulder a little bit, Kyubey doesn't seem to have any complains about this explanation either... That dirty little... Why didn't he tell me!? Why didn't Kyouko tell me earlier...? Whatever, that doesn't even seem to be the major problem here... "So, just what exactly **could** be a greater problem than that...?"

"Haha, you see, it's a pretty funny story..." Kyouko scratches the back of her head slightly and laughs nervously, I should probably brace myself for the worst, though I have no idea what could be worse than what she just told me... "I kind of pushed our Soul Gems together and, uh... Well, ya should probably see for yourself." She reaches for a drawer next to her side of the bed and takes something out. I take a look at it, it's... her Soul Gem? The colour seems to be pretty much what I'd expect, a bright red...

"I don't see what you're talking about, isn't that just your..." She moves it slightly in her hand, that thing... it isn't just red, it's also cerulean... There's the musical staff and a musical note, so that's my Soul Gem! How did it end up like that...? There's a small violet line separating the two different colours, but this... "Are you trying to tell me that this is...?" Kyouko just nods and squeezes my shoulder again. I poke the blue part with my index finger... That felt as if I just crushed my own shoulder, it's the real thing...

"Well, I think you see how it is now, right? I cleansed it yesterday, so we shouldn't have to worry about turning into Witches or anything like that for a while, but that's the situation we're in right now... " What does this mean...? The Soul Gem is a physical representation of our souls, from what I understand, so the way it's now... Does that mean my soul somehow got fused with that of Kyouko...? I don't know if this is really that much better than my first assumption...

"So, what does this mean for us?" Well, it probably is, somehow I feel as if she meant well, regardless of what the consequences are. I think I made up my opinion of her prematurely, maybe she isn't so bad, after all...

"I have applied the new information, it is just a theory so far, but it seems as if your Soul Gems don't simply share the same frame, I assume that they did, in fact, merge. The violet colour present, a very small element of this new Soul Gem, but an element nonetheless, indicates that your souls are overlapping and perhaps even mixing." That doesn't really sound too good, if that's true... What should I do about this...?

"Yeah, great, could you like... I don't know, translate this into something we can understand and care 'bout? Your scientific data's great and all, but I just wanna know what consequences this will have, not how that works and so on." In this regard I do agree with Kyouko, it's interesting to know what's going on here, but the more important question is still how this will affect us from now on...

"I was just about to explain this to you. As you can see your Soul Gems have merged at that small section, as you can imagine this process is irreversible without a miracle." Well, that much is obvious, it's not as if we could just take a chisel and break it in two... "You will have to stay within the range of your Soul Gem, otherwise... well, you know what happens if you sever the connection to your Soul Gem, don't you, Miki Sayaka?"

"Wait... does that mean we have to stay... within hundred metres of the other...?" This is so... say we forget about whether we want that or not, how should we even do that? Kyouko lives somewhere on her own and hundred metres are... pretty much next to nothing, when you think about it... It's fine if it's just a small gem we have to carry around with us at all times, but Kyouko...? She doesn't even go to my school, so how the hell should we make this work out...?

"I would suggest that you try it out somewhere save, that rule varies between different Magical Girls and to be honest I have no idea just how many things have changed within your Soul Gems and how much they did. Though I can tell that both of you have gotten a lot stronger, your current condition far exceeds what you could have accomplished as individuals." So it does bring some benefits as well, though I really don't know how we should deal with this...

"And that's all you can tell us?" Pretty useless, in my opinion, but at least he told us some important things we need to mind from now on, though I wonder how I should explain this to my dad and how we get Kyouko to come to school, we'll have to enrol her, I just hope she has contact to the authorities or something like that, maybe we could somehow pull it off if she did... If she didn't we'd have to think of something else, I guess...

"For now that is all the information I have, further information will be discovered through observations of your behaviour and your fights from now on. Before you even ask, I suspect that your emotions, your knowledge, your very beings might overlap and merge eventually as well. Of course that only applies to your souls, your bodies should show relatively little changes, if any at all." We... what!? He can't be serious about that...

"Are you frickin' kidding me!? I mean, come on, you can't be serious 'bout that stuff, right? That's just ridiculous..." Kyubey isn't exactly one to joke around, he's a deceitful little bastard, but at least he doesn't lie... usually, I shouldn't bet on it, he's far less trustworthy than even that transfer student or Kyouko... Kyouko... I don't get her at all, one day she stops by and casually tries to kill me, the next time she tries to save me by putting her life on the line...

"As a matter of fact I am not joking, but you can try it out for yourself if you don't believe me." I'm not exactly keen on experiencing the things I did when my Soul Gem was removed from my body again, but I guess there's no way around it, we really should know how far we can move, otherwise one of our bodies could just 'die' during a fight against a Witch... and we'll have to kill Witches if we want to stay alive and sane...

"Well, don't worry about it, we'll figure something out, right? I guess we'll just have to stay together until we find some way to fix it or something." I feel almost as cheerful as I sound, whatever it is that happened to us doesn't seem to be too bad, I guess. It's not as if I'd have to worry about school any longer, but I kind of want to go there again, to see Madoka again... and Kamijou-kun as well, though I don't care about him that much any more, for some reason I haven't even thought about him for quite a while...

"Yeah, sure, it's not as if this was anything serious, right? *Sigh* I guess that's what I get for trying to save an idiot..." Hey...

"Who are you calling an idiot!? If anything it was your stupidity that got us into this situation in the first place, I didn't ask you to do what you did!" She still manages to drive me up the wall just fine...

"H-hey, don't take it so seriously, I was just jokin' around... Besides, who didn't cleanse her Soul Gem and left me no other choice? You called yourself an idiot, remember?" *Sigh* Well, I guess I'll have to get used to this, we'll be stuck with each other for the remainder of both our lives unless Kyubey discovers some way to reverse this... I probably shouldn't get my hopes up, I'll have to get used to that idea... At least I don't have to worry about her getting in my way about Kamijou-kun any more, there's no way to him left, after all...

"Sorry, I get it. Well, let's do our best from now on, alright, partner?" I offer her my hand and she takes it hesitantly, though I think she's happy about this as well, it was about time we buried the hatchet... All this fighting against each other was bad for both of us, though I wasn't the one to pick a fight with Kyouko when I first met her... I guess that somewhat evens it out, I wasn't exactly the knight in shining armour I wanted to be either...

"Heh, it's been a while since I called someone that, but I could get used to it... partner." It feels kind of strange, feeling Kyouko take my hand and looking all embarrassed... I think now I've seen just about anything, all that's left for me to see is that transfer student getting over herself... Yeah, as if that's gonna happen, I guess I shouldn't complain about a small miracle, that's more than what I could ask for... Being here like this, even if it's strange, it's better than being a Witch, for sure.

"So, where are we...?" According to Kyouko it's some kind of a hotel room, but that's about all I can tell...

"As I said, in a hotel room, I usually stay one floor above. Why are you asking?" Hm, I might as well tell her once we know how far we can move away from this Soul Gem and therefore each other... This room is pretty nice, it looks rather big, almost as big as my room back home. There's everything one would need in here, bed stands at each side of the bed, a big desk, some armchairs and a couch, even a small fridge, a wardrobe and even a television...

"Come to think of it, how did you afford this room...?" On the inside I pray she didn't just break in, but her crooked smile tells a different story, no matter what I hope for... I guess there's no helping it, I'll overlook it, just this once, it was an emergency of sorts, after all... and I don't really want to ruin everything we've accomplished so far, we seem to be getting along right now... "Whatever, you said your usual room is one floor above us?"

"Well, yeah, but we should get going right now, we have some things to test out, right?" Somehow I get the feeling that she's avoiding the question... I'm kind of curious about what her place looks like, probably another hotel room like this one... I would scold her for living like this, but she had it hard enough already, I guess, I can't even compare my own problems to anything she went through... That doesn't make it right, but I'll make sure she won't continue like this.

"Let's go there." She doesn't look very pleased...

"Geez, why'd you care about my room so much either way?" Well, for starters we are kind of fused together in some weird way, so it wouldn't be too much to ask her for that, I think... I do my best to look deep into her slightly red eyes with my best pleading look, she just looks away to the side, I think it's working... "Whatever... it doesn't seem as if I could persuade you, you're way too stubborn for reasonable arguments either way..."

"Yep, that's right, now give me some clothes and let's get going~" Somehow it almost feels as if we'd been friends for a really long time already, though we barely know each other, it's somewhat reassuring... Maybe she's right, maybe life is crap, but still worth living for, at least I think that was what she was trying to tell me. Yeah, she is right, life's too good to throw it away because of some idiot I was in love with, it's time to move on.

"Aren't you enthusiastic? I don't really have any clothes I could give you, unless you want me to steal some for you, so you'll just have to use your Magical Girl outfit." I guess that also works, it's better than having Kyouko steal something for me... I'll also have to explain this to my dad, the uniforms of our school aren't exactly cheap, then again he has more than enough money for that kind of thing.

"Wait, you want to go through the window? Won't we be seen...?" I never really gave it any thought before, but it probably wouldn't be very good if someone saw us like this or took a picture of us... They'd probably think of us as some sorts of cosplay freaks and call the police if they saw us jumping from roof to roof, I'd probably have done the same thing if I had seen a Magical Girl doing stuff like that before meeting Mami-san...

"You don't have to worry about that, they can't see you while you are in that outfit. It emits electromagnetic waves which interfere with almost any technology and the brains of anyone who isn't a Magical Girl or has the potential to be one, tricking them into completely ignoring you, unless you willingly show yourself. " Sounds pretty interesting, I'd almost feel tempted to try that out, but I shouldn't abuse my power like that, that wouldn't be very just...

"You could think of it as being invisible while you're transformed, though they won't hear you either, they'll blank out anything you do, but they still see the consequences of your actions and conjure up some other explanation." I guess that's how Kyouko could steal all of that food she always has on her for some reason or why there are not reports of Magical Girls all over the news, if others could see us or take a photograph there's no way it wouldn't be discovered...

"Alright, let's get going." I change into my outfit while Kyouko dons her usual clothes and changes afterwards as well. We're really going to climb through the window, glad I don't have fear of heights, otherwise this would probably be a nightmare for me, we're on the third floor...

...

"So this... is your room?" I was expecting... well, I was expecting a lot of things, maybe a lair full of stolen stuff or enough fast food and sweets to feed the whole city for a couple of days, but definitely not this... It looks like some kind of attic that wasn't used in ages, pretty much everything is cobwebbed and covered by many layers worth of dust... I definitely won't stay here, I hate spiders... and I can't really leave Kyouko here all alone either.

"Hey, you invited yourself in, it wasn't my idea." Well, that's also true, it is my fault for being so curious... There's a dirty futon in one of the corners of the room with tons of packing all around, I guess that's Kyouko's sleeping place... I can't help feeling a little bit repelled by that, my room is always perfectly clean, the whole house is, most of the time, I take care of that... and Kyouko shouldn't live in a place like this either, I won't allow that.

"Why are you staying in a place like this?" I never really thought about where Kyouko would live, I mean, she seemed to be doing just fine, but in a place like this...? She could just as well sneak into one of the better rooms for the night and stay there, so why would she do that? Of course I wouldn't do something like that if I was in her situation, at least I don't think I would, but she never seemed to have any concerns about those kinds of things...

"Well, it's not as if I could afford a real room either way and breaking in every night would attract unwanted attention, so I rather stay up here." That sounds more like an excuse than anything else, but I probably shouldn't make more inquiries, she might take it the wrong way... I guess we'll have to get along somehow from now on, regardless of what we think, it's not as if we had much of a choice. I lean against one of the roof beams, there's something strangely soft...

"What is-" That's... no way... it's a small sac, white and silky... with small black dots... this better not... "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!" I frantically shake my hand to get rid of them, but there are too many... countless little spiders... shaking my hand was a bad idea, now they're all over me! I dust myself off and jump a little bit, I just hope that was all of them... Kyouko looks rather bewildered, I guess that's comprehensible...

"What's the matter, Sayaka?" I was just a little bit scared, it's not as if I had arachnophobia or something like that, but I think that's a reaction anyone would have if they found out they just grabbed a sac of infant spiders...Kyouko looks at me and leans in a little bit closer, she looks rather suspicious... Just what is she looking at either way? This is pretty embarrassing... "Hey, you've got something in your hair, let me get it for ya."

"Well, thanks, I've had just about enough of this place, get your things, we'll be going." She has a smug grin as she pulls another small spider out of my hair while I do my best to stay composed, I have no idea what kind of spiders they are, it's too dark in here, but I don't really want to know either way... a second later Kyouko throws me another questioning look, but she does get a backpack, though that can't be all she has here, right? "Do you need help with anything?"

"Nah, that's all I got, I'm ready to go." She must've lived a horrible life here, that doesn't justify the things she did, but I think I should still be more forgiving, it's not as if I could fathom what she had to go through... yeah, I think I prejudged her, if she was half as self-centred as I thought she was there's just no way she'd risk her very soul to save me... Why would she do that either way...? I did it for Kamijou-kun, but she...

"Alright, let's get out of here." I've had enough of this place, our basement is far cleaner than this place and I used to consider it dirty... Though I'm not sure what I should do... what we should do from now on, I guess we'll stay at my home, mum and dad are barely ever home either way, so it wouldn't really bother them. I have no siblings, so most of the time I have our floor all to myself, maybe it really wouldn't be so bad to have Kyouko around...

...

**Kyouko's POV**, the riverside

...

"So, what did we come here for?" It's a little detour, we could get to Sayaka's place faster if we took another route, we could even jump from building to building since we're pretty much invisible for anyone as long as we're in our armour. I'm actually rather surprised by how well Sayaka is taking all of this, I was expecting her to snap the moment I told her what had happened to us, but if I didn't know any better I'd say she's being pretty considerate...

"Just lie down in the grass here for a bit and give me our Soul Gem, we wanted to test out how far we could be from each other, remember?" Oh, so that's why. I guess this place is as good as any, we have a lot of free space here and nothing would obstruct our view. And it's a nice place, though a little bit wet from yesterday, but that can't be helped... the sooner we try this out the better, I really wouldn't want to find that out while fighting a Witch and that could happen anytime...

"Why do I have to lie down here? Can't you do that?" I rather wouldn't lie down in the grass here, it's not all that pleasant. Has been pretty cold for the last few days, colder than usual around this time, it's supposed to get warmer around the beginning of summer. I still wonder why Sayaka asked me to take my things with me, but I guess she'll explain it in time, it's just some fast food, a lot of ramen, pocky and other things I like to eat...

"Well, I'd do it, but our equipment vanishes if we lose contact with our Soul Gem." I give her a questioning look, I'm not really sure what she's getting at... "*Sigh* What I'm trying to tell you is... we're in plain view here and I'd just be wearing a bra and panties while you'd be fully dressed if our equipment would vanish." Oh, I get it, that's true, though it would be pretty hilarious, I think... I can't help but grin and Sayaka glares at me, I guess she knows what I was thinking... I take out the Soul Gem and give it to her.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll do it, just go and try it out if you want to." I can't say I'm too thrilled about experiencing this kind of thing, I doubt it'd feel good, but I can't really make Sayaka do it, despite the weather there're some people around. It would be pretty amusing to see that, but she'd probably try to kill me if I just took our Soul Gem and ran away with it... She starts to walk away from me with pretty big steps, I think she's trying to count the distance while looking at me over her shoulder or something.

Hm, I wonder what we'll do from now on, I guess we're stuck with each other. Granted, I'm kind of glad that it's Sayaka I'm stuck with, I kinda like her, but that doesn't change the fact that we're stuck with each other. We'll have to think about what we do from now on together, there isn't that much space for 'me' or 'her' any longer, we'll have to do almost everything together from now on. What should I do abou-

...

"Kyouko? Hey, Kyouko, are you alright?" Uh... I rub my eyes for a moment and stretch, I feel as if I'd just fallen asleep for a moment... Sayaka is kneeling next to me, her face directly above mine, she's pretty close. Now she's giving me a relieved smile, it looks really good on her, this has to be the first time she ever looked at me with an honest smile... I wonder how far Sayaka got before I collapsed, that has to be what's happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So, how far did ya get?" her expression darkens a little bit, I don't think that's a good sign... She offers me her hand and I take it, she pulls me up with ease, she really has gotten a lot stronger since then... I'd kind of like to fight her again, without the whole 'killing each other' part, just for fun, but that'd be a waste of magic... I get back into my gear, it's more comfortable than wet clothes. The weather really isn't that great, looks as if it'd rain again sometime, though I think that'll be tonight, at least not anytime soon.

"Not very far, around fifty metres..." **FIFTY!?** Damn, that's just 'bout nothing... I'm really stuck with her, for the rest of our life, I can't even think of it as lives any longer... that's pretty fucked up, I just hope Sayaka will stay as tolerable as she is right now, I don't think I'd be able to put up with her if she'd complain about every little thing I did and go on and on about her ideals... She can have them, I have no problem with that, but she shouldn't go around and try to push them onto me or others...

"So, uh, you have some kinda plan or something?" I'm pretty much at a loss, I didn't really think about this before, but I'll have to find some place close to her to stay at, I don't think it'd be good to spend a night without being in the vicinity of our Soul Gem... It isn't too likely that I could find anything there, but I guess it's worth a shot, I should ask Sayaka for her opinion about these things as well, every decision we make will affect both of us...

"I guess you could say so, though it isn't much of a plan. Let's go to my place for the time being, I didn't eat a thing since the day before yesterday..." I take out some pocky and offer her one, this time she doesn't throw it away or stops to ask me where I got it, she just takes it. Well, hunger will triumph over ethics most of the time, though two days without food isn't really that bad, I had it worse already... but I shouldn't dwell on the past.

...

"So, what do we do now?" We're right in front of Sayaka's home, I've been here before, though this is the first time she actually invites me to come in... It's a really big place, I'd almost call it a mansion, this place is almost as big as the church of my father, but with more floors... and she lives here all alone most of the time. I haven't seen her parents even once while observing her, only the other people living in here... They have to be wealthy if they can afford a home like this with heating costs and everything, it looks really neat as well...

"Hm, let's go in for now, I'll get myself a change of clothes and make something to eat afterwards, I'll have to make a call as well, school and all that stuff..." I can't say I'm unhappy about never going to school, it sounds like a real bother... I never really got the chance to do that since my parents didn't even have enough money for food, so I rather went outside and looked for something to eat, it's not as if I could've even gone to school if I had wanted to...

"I guess you're right, though you'll have to make up some story, you can't exactly go ahead and tell them that you were 'bout to transform into an ugly fish monster before I came along to save ya." I grin at her and she looks a little bit confused, but after a moment she smiles as well. I guess I'll have to explain all of that stuff to her as well, though I'd rather go to Homura and leave the talking to her, I don't really understand all that 'time travelling' business myself.

"Hm, I've heard worse excuses during classes, but I guess you're right about that." She takes out her wallet, there's a key ring attached to it as well, she picks one of the keys and unlocks the glass door. This place is kind of... I'd almost say intimidating, it's so high, probably around ten metres. There are stairs going all the way up to the glass peak of the roof, but there's also an elevator. A lot better than my shabby old attic, that's for sure...

"Highest floor, right?" She just nods and walks towards the stairs, they're covered with some kind of white stones or something like that, the ceiling is covered with those stones as well, a lot of white squares made of stone or something... From what I can tell she and her family have that floor all to themselves or the right side of it is currently uninhabited, there're some other families living on the lower floors as well. Man, she has it really nice here, I kind of envy her...

"Yeah. You've been here before, when you took me to the church, right?" I kind of wonder why I did that myself, this whole thing with Sayaka really screwed my life up, especially in that dream, or vision from another timeline or whatever the hell it was... Well, too late to complain 'bout that either way, I made my decision and I'll stick by it. We walk up the stairs to the highest floor, Sayaka unlocks yet another door and we're in another white corridor.

"So, how will we go 'bout this whole thing? I mean, we'll have to come to terms with our current situation and this whole thing won't work out if we disagree 'bout almost anything." That'll be a difficult thing to do, considering Sayaka's obsession with justice and so on, but I'm not really willing to just follow her lead. Sure, I always loved those heroic tales 'bout love and courage, but I know that's not how it works...

"I guess you're right, we should probably talk about that after I made something to eat, I guess you'll want some as well, right?" I just nod my head, though I'm not really sure, I can't tell whether she can cook or not... Well, I won't let any of it go to waste, that's for sure, especially since she goes out of her way to make some for me... "Why don't you take a shower in the meanwhile? I'll get dressed and give you some of my clothes, we could also put yours in the washer, if you want to."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea." It's been a couple of days since I last took one, I've been way too occupied with other stuff to think of somethin' like that... I guess that was just a nice way of saying 'You smell, go and take a shower'... My clothes could also need a washing, I feel pretty embarrassed about all that stuff all of a sudden, as if I just suddenly became aware of it all... I guess that's kinda true, you don't think 'bout it if you're on your own...

"Alright, the bathroom is the second door to the right." Sayaka lifts her right hand and points at the door, I guess this might be a nice evening, after all. I wonder how we'll do all those things from now on, I'll have to find someplace to stay close by, that could be difficult... fifty metres, that's frickin' nothing, it would have to be in this house or in the immediate vicinity, but I don't think there're too many options I have...

I open the door, it's a pretty average bathroom, though a little bit bigger than what I'm used to. White tiles, a pink mat in front of the sink, a couple of toothbrushes and some other stuff. The bathtub itself is probably the biggest thing in here, roughly one and a half metre squares, it has grey tiles instead of the white ones. I don't even remember the last time I got to take an actual bath, showers are just fine, but a bath is something different...

Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to live here, though I don't think I could ask for that much... Sayaka probably wouldn't want that either way... I take a look at some of the bottles next to the bathtub, I think I'll treat myself to a bubble bath... I open the water tap, the water's pretty warm, just the way I like it, now I'll just have to wait until it's full... Somehow all of this feels so unreal, I wouldn't have believed myself if I had somehow travelled back through time and told me that anything like that would happen.

I mean, it's been like what, twelve days since I first met Sayaka, and now we're pretty much stuck with each other for the rest of our lives? Seriously, everything's been goin' crazy since I got involved with her... but I don't really mind it that much, we're both fine and if things had gone different one or both of us would've been dead by now. All in all things are going well, I guess, at least when compared to Homura's stories or that dream...

Well, whatever. The bathtub is full enough now, so I just take off my clothes and throw them into one of the corners. I also undo my hair band, now my hair is all over the place, that's why I usually wear it in the first place, otherwise it'd really get in my way during fights and so on... Well, I like it better this way, so it's fine. I take a seat on the brim of the bathtub and put my left foot in first, it's just perfect... I slowly let myself immerse, this is heaven...

...

**Sayaka's POV**, her room

...

I think it would be about time for me to take a bath as well, it's been two days since I took a shower... but I guess I'll just do that tomorrow, all that's left for today is making dinner, it isn't really late, but I still feel tired, for some reason... but it's completely different from the 'tired' I felt yesterday, today it feels pretty good, like what one feels after a good workout. I think it's about time I get myself something decent to wear...

Panties and a sports bra really aren't that comfortable to wear all of the time, I take them off and take a look at my wardrobe. Everything's as I left it, I take out two boxer shorts, those things really are much more comfortable... I usually don't wear them in school because it looks kind of weird with our uniform and everyone else doesn't wear them, but when I'm at home or wear trousers I rather take those.

I get myself a pyjama next, one for Kyouko as well. I'll also have to think of someplace where she can stay, I don't think we have any guestrooms right now... I guess I can just as well dig up a futon, we should have one, somewhere... My dad's out, that's not really unusual. I guess that's for the best, we'll also have to think of some reason why Kyouko should stay here... It can never be as easy as I'd like it, can it?

It'll work out, one way or the other, I'm sure of it. My dad's rather understanding and I think I'll be able to negotiate something with him. I kind of wonder if I should tell him about this whole Magical Girl stuff, I think it would be kind of unfair not to tell him, I could die any day while fighting Witches... I haven't seen mum in a while, my parents are divorced, though she still comes here, sometimes, I never really understood it, but they still seem to get along.

All done, I'm wearing my usual light blue pyjama over the boxer shorts, the best thing I have for Kyouko is a white one I rarely ever used... I mean, blue really wouldn't suit her, that would jar with the colour of her hair. It's not really that important, but I think it'd be irritating for me as well. She will need a towel as well, so I get one for her. That should be everything, so I walk towards the bathroom.

"*Knock* Hey, Kyouko, can I come in? I have the clothes and a towel for you."

"Sure, come on in." I open the door, it's really steamy in here... Just how hot was the water she used? Well, if she likes it that's her thing, though she should open the window if she does that, otherwise the ceiling or something else might get mouldy... I put the change of clothes on a stool in front of the bathtub and the towel right next to it, intent on not looking at Kyouko. That would be pretty rude, after all.

"Please open the window next time you take a hot shower or a bath, alright? Well, I'll get going now." *Splash* As I walk towards the door she suddenly grabs my arm from behind... Geez, now the pyjama is all wet...

"Sure, sure. Hey, why don't you come in here for a sec? The water's pretty much perfect." What does she mean by 'come in'?

"I have to prepare dinner and so on, so no." Even if I was free right now I wouldn't just hop into the bathtub with Kyouko, I rarely even did that with mum or dad when I was younger... It would be a different story if it was a public bath or something, but this would just be embarrassing...

"What are ya looking away for anyways? C'mon, let's have some fun!" I can feel a strong pull and the next thing I know is that I'm inside the bathtub, face under water... Just what is she thinking!? Now my pyjama's completely soaked, my boxer shorts as well... I'm just glad that the floor is made of tiles, otherwise the water sloshing over could be a real problem... I get my face out of the water again, there's almost half a metre worth of bubbles above it...

"Just what have you done here? That's way too much foam, just how much did you use...?" I take a look at my bottle, it's almost empty... *Sigh* It was almost half-full before Kyouko came along, that has to mean she put half a litre in- *Splash* "Hey! What's your problem!?" She just splashed water in my face, what is she, a little kid!? I wipe the water out of my eyes, but I won't let her get away with this, it's time for payback!

"Just having some fun. It's just how we used-" *Splash* I got her good this time, she even had her mouth open, so it's a perfect hit! Hehe, I was always the best one with water, Hitomi and Madoka never stood a chance in such a fight against me~ Somehow I always felt very comfortable around water or inside of it, almost more so than on solid ground... I think it's about time I went swimming again, it's been way too long since I did something like that...

"Know where you pick your battles, you stand no chance against Super Water Sportsman Sayaka-chan in the water~" I guess Kyouko was right, this really is some fun, I never would've thought I'd be doing something like this with her, just playing around like this. I could almost forget about all those serious things we have to worry about right now, just having some fun might be just what we need...

"*Cough* *Cough*" Maybe I slightly overdid it with my retaliation... I get over to her, put an arm on her back and strike her, not really strongly, just enough to help her get the water out. Her long red hair is pretty unkempt, maybe we'll have to cut it off, though it actually looks kind of good on her... I'll have to apologise to her, I didn't mean to- "Got ya!" Wha- The next moment my head is below the water again, this time I almost breathe in some water... You just wait... I can still feel her arm around my head, so I can guess where I'll have to strike...

I reach out with both of my hand and start a merciless tickle assault! After just a moment her hands are out of my hair and I get my head back up, but I won't stop here! "Hah, take this! And this, and that!" It takes me several seconds to realise just how embarrassing this is, I mean, it's something else when I do this with Madoka, we've been friends for as long as I can remember, but with Kyouko, especially when she isn't wearing anything...

"HAHAHA! Wah, stop, I can't... haha! I give up, hihihi!" I retreat my hands and get back to the other side of the bathtub, looking at Kyouko is so embarrassing, though the bubbles cover her completely... oh, right, I'll have to prepare dinner and so on, somehow that came to my mind all of a sudden. "You see? That was fun, wasn't it?" She looks pretty happy and has a pretty big grin, for some reason. I guess she doesn't realise yet that I'll have her clean up the mess she made on the floor...

"I guess so, yeah. But why did you do that?" Her expression darkens slightly...

"Ah, you see... back then, when I used to live with my little sis and so on, we used to do this almost every time when we took a bath. I guess it was... kinda nostalgic for me, you know? Drove mum mad every time, but it's not as if we had much else to be happy 'bout. That was before things really went to shit." Oh... I guess that makes sense, kind of. Well, it's not as if anything was damaged, so it's not that bad... "Sorry if that made you mad..."

"*Sigh* Just tell me about it next time and don't surprise me like that, I almost swallowed a mouthful of soap water there... I guess it's fine, but you'll have to clean up all of that water, alright?" She starts laughing again, for some reason... "What's so funny?"

"Hmhm, it's nothing. I just thought you remind me a little bit of mum, is all. She also joined in when we were splashing around with water but told us to clean up afterwards." It's somewhat strange that she can joke around like this, at least I don't think I'd be able to think back to something like that if I had experienced the things she did. I wonder how she even came through those events without turning to a Witch, if even something like that with Kamijou-kun and Hitomi could be enough to push me to that point...

"Well, just do it, I'll get myself some new clothes and prepare dinner..." I get out of the water, my pyjama is completely soaked, just as my whole body... I wring out some of the water, but I won't be wearing this one tonight, that much is for sure... Well, it was fun, something I didn't really have for the last few days... I can't say I missed it, it rather feels as if I had forgotten what that even was over all those other things which happened...

I walk out of the bathroom, back to my own room to get myself some new clothes... I guess I can't really hold it against Kyouko, from what I can tell she meant well, she does seem to care about me, for some reason. I can't say I understand how this change came about, a few days ago she was trying to kill me, now she saves my life and tries to curry favour with me. Uh, of course not in the romantic sense of those words...

Well, I wouldn't really mind some company, dad doesn't come home very often and if he does it's pretty late, so I spend most of my time all alone here, unless I do something with my friends. I guess I'll have to apologise to Madoka tomorrow, I said some things I really shouldn't have said, none of this was her fault... I should probably apologise to that transfer student as well, I believe her, she just wanted to protect Madoka...

And most of all I'll have to apologise to Kyouko and thank her for putting up with me yesterday, I don't remember it all that well, it's kind of blurry, but I know that she did save me. I hurriedly take off my clothes and dry myself with another towel, afterwards I change into some dry clothes and hang up the old ones on the heater. It isn't on right now, but that doesn't really matter, it's warm enough in here. Heh, I didn't think I'd ever see my room again, it almost feels unreal...

Nothing has changed in here, but I feel as if I had become a completely different person, though I can't tell how I have changed... Well, I've been much more patient with Kyouko, I think she needs my compassion as well. A lot of things went wrong between the two of us, so that's probably a good thing, we should both just leave that stuff behind and start over. Haha, that almost sounds like something Madoka would say...

Whatever, I can worry about all those things while I'm making dinner, standing in my room and staring at my plushies won't make it for us... I should probably make more than usual, dad and me usually eat rather little, but Kyouko... Well, if it's too much we won't have to worry about cooking tomorrow. I've been practising for a good while now, I cook for dad and myself and I practised extra hard to make something delicious for Kamijou-kun when we'd get together...

Well, that's obviously not going to happen, even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to be with him. Especially now that I'll have to stay within a fifty metre radius of Kyouko unless I want to suddenly collapse as a corpse, I'm sure that would be perfect for a date... Besides, what's so great about Kamijou-kun anyways? Sure, his music is great, but I don't need to be his girlfriend to listen to it. Other than that...

Strange, I can't really remember what I thought to be so great about him. Maybe that's just how love goes, who knows. Or maybe it's related to the Soul Gem stuff that I don't feel attracted to him any longer, those apparently have a huge impact on our emotions. Well, I can't say I'm sad about not feeling those things for him any more, it's probably better for me, that way I can still look him and Hitomi in the eyes, she can have him for all I care...

Yes, that way all of us can be happy, more or less, I'll just have to figure out how I should spend my time with Kyouko from now on. Well, I'm sure we'll reach some kind of a compromise both of us can live with. Of course that won't be easy and I don't think we'll reach that compromise on the first try, but if we continue to discuss our different opinions we should be able to get there.

I can somewhat see Kyouko's point of not attacking familiars as well now, I hate to admit it, but if we'll turn into Witches if we don't get Grief Seeds... it might be better for everyone to let them get away, though I don't know if I can do something like that. Well, I'll have more than enough time to worry about that while making dinner, so I might as well get into the kitchen and get it started, the sooner I begin the sooner it's done.

...

**Author's note**: I just wanted to say 'thank you' for all the nice reviews we got so far, in both our names. We hope you enjoyed it so far, the next chapter will probably take a lot longer, but we'll get there, eventually. We wouldn't really mind longer or more critical reviews, feel free to say what you think... or don't, if you don't feel like writing a review, I know how it is.^^ The characters might seem to be somewhat out of character this time, but we'll try to explain it in the next chapter.


	4. And I'm home

**Sayaka's POV**, the kitchen

...

"Damn..." I should have known this was going to happen, but it wasn't really important until now... I didn't clean up for almost a week now, so it was to be expected... the kitchen looks like a former battlefield, the sink is overrun by dirty dishes covered in... yucky stuff, I don't even know what that used to be, some of it is getting mouldy already... I just hope there's enough food left to make something, if I'm out of luck most of the vegetables will be inedible by now...

I walk towards the fridge with a foreboding feeling, I'm almost afraid to open the door to see what lurks in there... I slowly open it, prepared for the worst... phew, I guess I got lucky, since I wasn't here to buy anything the fridge is almost empty except for some carrots and cabbage. There should also be pre-cooked chicken breast fillet in the freezer. Well, the cabbage isn't in a very good shape, but it's still edible, Kyouko would scold me if I'd throw anything away...

Yeah, I can make something with this, I guess I'll just stew the carrots with the cabbage and roast the chicken before adding it. I think I'll spice it with... I guess I'll just make some teriyaki sauce. Let's see... soy sauce... check. Mirin... nope, but I can do without it. And some sugar. I take a look at the sugar dispenser, it's almost empty... I guess I'll have to go shopping sometime, but not while I'm supposedly sick, that wouldn't be good...

Hm, some honey as well. I take a bowl out of one of the shelves, next a cup... and the spices. Alright, everything I should need. One cup of soy sauce, half a cup of sake... next four tablespoons of sugar and honey... I should probably clean up that mess at the sink first... I guess there's no helping it, here I come.

...

My father should really hire a housemaid or something along those lines whenever I don't do it, this was really disgusting... at least it's clean enough to put it into the dishwasher now, so I won't have to worry about it for a while. Where were we...? Oh, right, the teriyaki sauce. I slowly stir the mixture and add some corn starch, a trace of sesame oil... that should be good enough. Of course some spices as well, let's see...

A touch of garlic, a pinch of ginger... a little more coriander and pepper... Hm, it's not as if I'd need any more, this is good enough. I'm not really in the mood for any strange experiments, though I still want it to be rather good, I guess it could be a small 'thank you' for Kyouko, food would probably be perfect... I should put the rice on a little bit later, the other things will take more preparations. And the vegetables have to be cut before I can stew them. Well, it shouldn't take much longer than... three-quarters of an hour, maybe less.

No, scratch that, probably rather one hour. I want to make tempura batter for the chicken breast fillet and for that I'll need really cold water... Well, I guess it's worth the wait, I can prepare the other things while waiting for the water to cool down.

...

**Kyouko's POV**, after the bath

...

That was really refreshing, I haven't taken a bath in... I don't even know when the last time was. I ended up staying much longer than I needed to, my skin's all wrinkled... well, it was fun, especially pulling Sayaka in, the look on her face when she got back up was priceless. We can't really do much 'bout our current situation, but I'm still kinda glad things turned out this way, strange as it might be. Beats dying, I guess. I look through my clothes and get what I was looking for, our Soul Gem.

I didn't really know what I was getting myself into when I did that and I much rather wouldn't be chained to Sayaka... but I can't really do much 'bout that, so I might as well get used to it and have fun. Though I'll probably have to teach Sayaka what that is first, she's way too uptight with all her justice and so on. Well, we should have more than enough time for that from now on, doesn't look as if we'd be able to part ways anytime soon.

A pyjama, huh? I didn't really bother with things like that since I left 'home' or what remained of it, I always felt they were... kinda useless. But I guess I'll wear it for the time being, at least until my hoodie and my pants are clean and dry again. Though I really don't get why she left me some boxer shorts as well, maybe that was accidental. I just dry myself off with the towel and slip into the pyjama, it's actually pretty comfortable, rather fluffy... it even has some pockets, so I put the Soul Gem inside one of them.

And now I'll have to wipe the floor... I always hated that, but I guess there's no helping it, it was my fault... I just use the towel to wipe the floor and wring it out in the bathtub, I already pulled the plug out. Yeah, that should do the trick. Now I'll just have to open the window and I'm done here... I'm actually kind of curious 'bout what Sayaka will make, though I hope it's good. Somehow she just doesn't seem like a housewife to me...

I guess I'll just have to find out for myself. Should still be edible, no matter what she ends up doing. If she wasn't good at cooking she wouldn't do it, she'd just eat instant meals all of the time, just as I do. Unless she was actually talking 'bout instant food... Well, only one way to find out. I open the door and step into the white hallway, I can smell something... if the smell's anything to go by it won't be bad, that much's for sure!

"Sayaka? Hey, Sayaka! I'm done, where are ya?" I guess in the kitchen, I just follow my nose... smells like something fried. And probably some vegetables and... teriyaki sauce. I think it smells pretty good, if it's even half as good as it smells I'll be pleased.

"Ah, yes, I'm here, just come in. It still needs a little bit." So that's the kitchen, second room to the left. And a big fridge, as well as many shelves for food~ That's what I'd call a living. Hm, I still don't know where I should stay, maybe I should just ask Sayaka. At least she'd probably know if there was a place to stay at close to here. Or we'll have to move out of here and search for apartments or something.

"Alright. Hey, Sayaka, ya got any idea where I could stay?" There was no inheritance unless my father had debts and I've been missing since that day, I didn't really need money. I'd have to look for a job, but Sayaka probably won't just quit school... Damn, this could be pretty complicated, with those fifty metres we have. Why would the range of that stupid thing decrease anyways!? Shouldn't it increase if it got bigger?

"Huh? I though that was obvious, you will stay here. Otherwise I'd have to move out and dad would probably be against that since I'm not done with school yet." I... She thinks I can just stay here like that...? Hm, I guess I can, it's not as if I had any obligations. This is actually the perfect solution, I won't have to look for a place to stay at and I don't have to work for it, what more could I ask for? If Homura would offer something like that I'd be careful, but I can expect fair treatment from Sayaka. Uh, probably...

"I can!? Haha, cool, in that case I'll make myself at home!" Yeah, that ought to be better than a crappy attic, though I'm still not sure why I stayed at that place, I could've just slipped into another room... Bah, who gives a damn?! I got myself a home! A home... sure brings back a lot of memories, last time I called a place home was back then... Nah, no point thinking 'bout that stuff now, this is a happy moment!

"Just don't overdo it... You can go to my room and unpack your things for the time being, we don't really have a free guestroom right now." Huh, I guess that means I'll stay in her room for the time being, I'm kinda curious as to what it looks like on the inside... Her room was the last one to the left, the fourth door, if I'm not mistaken. She looks up from her cooking for a moment, flipping her short blue hair behind her ears. "Uh, don't you need me to tell you where it is?"

"I was here to pick you up once, remember?" Truth be told, that wasn't the first time I was here, nor was it the last time... But Sayaka doesn't need to know that, who knows what she'd make of that. If she found out that'd just make our relationship more rocky than it already is and we'll have to get along somehow. I don't mind deceiving her just a little bit here and there, it's for the best, ain't it? Telling the truth is nice and good, but it can cause so much harm...

"You sure have an amazing memory... well, I will call you once everything's ready." She shrugs and returns to whatever it is she's doing there, I get out of the kitchen and follow the long white hallway to its end. The door opens with a faint creaking noise, sure enough, looks like Sayaka's room. Unless her mum's really into plushies and music. Nah, I saw her from the window, definitely her room. Even smells like her. There's even a photograph of that wimp with a violin on a shelf next to the bed...

What does she see in him anyways? I take the picture into my hand and take a closer look at him. Looks pretty average, at least in my opinion. I can't really talk 'bout his music, I never heard it, but classical music never really was my thing. Sure, can be nice, but it just doesn't do much for me, I like faster things more, something catchy that gets right into the blood... Well, was there anything else 'bout him?

I guess his personality, if I can call it that, from what I observed he's got about as much depth as a puddle and his hand obviously wasn't the only thing crippled. I didn't see that much 'bout their little 'love triangle' or whatever, basically just the conclusion, but still... he chose that other girl over Sayaka? I ain't seen her once in the hospital when I was... uh, looking after Sayaka, that's it. Has to be about as superficial as he's stupid...

Whatever. I don't think either of us would be in the mood to see that face right now, so I put it down on the brink of the shelf and 'accidentally' let out a heavy breath, sending it behind the shelf. Huh, the room looks a lot better already, who'd have thought? A lot of cute little plushies, some shelves with books and CDs... I guess it's alright, at least more entertaining than my room back there. Well, I bid you adieu, hellhole, here I come, new life! Though I kinda want a TV if I'm staying here, maybe some games as well...

I guess things are actually looking up, in a way. Doesn't seem like too much of a hassle any more. Sure, Sayaka probably won't stay as sweet-tempered as she's right now, I'll give her a couple of days, a week at most... Then I'll have to bear with her lectures 'bout justice and whatnot, but if we can reach a compromise it might be tolerable. We need Witches every now and then, otherwise we'll turn into them ourselves...

I look through the shelves a little bit, one apparently dedicated to classical music, not really my thing... A lot of books as well. Hm, 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', 'Collected works of William Shakespeare', 'Hans Christian Andersen: Illustrated Fairy Tales and Stories'... those are some of the titles I can read, but there are a lot of books in foreign languages as well, I guess English... well, I never really learned that, I was only taught to read Japanese by...

Whatever. I take the last book I looked at out of the shelf, mostly because it said 'Illustrated'... I don't really have the time to read much right now, so I just flip through some of the pages. I can't make much sense of the pictures alone, but they look pretty good, maybe I'll take a look at the stories, sometime. Standing here isn't really all that comfortable, so I look around for something to sit on. There are some chairs, but...

Yeah, that bed... it looks pretty tempting, I just wanna jump on top of it and try it out... Well, why not. I put the book down next to the pillow and jump right into it, it's so big... and really springy, I almost wanna hop around a little bit... but just lying here while my hair dries isn't bad at all, I feel pretty sluggish right now. Well, that's what a hot bath usually does. It sure smells like Sayaka in here...

Sayaka smells like this? Huh, I never really noticed that, but I guess pretty much anyone has their own smell. Of course there's also shampoo and whatnot, but it still smells like her. Well, I don't really mind. Maybe I'll look into the book a little more. could be a while until I get something to eat. If Sayaka can actually cook this could be really great... Maybe, just maybe, magic and miracles do exist...

...

**Sayaka's POV**

...

It took longer than I originally thought it would, but it's done now... I can't say it's the best thing I've ever made, I had to improvise a lot. Though I think it still turned out alright, at least it's edible. I open the door of the kitchen and look towards the entrance, there are our shoes and... Kyouko's backpack? Didn't I tell her to move it to my room? *Sigh* Oh well, I guess I'll just take it there. It's much lighter than I expected...

She seems to be okay with staying here, if her smile was anything to go by I'd even say happy. Of course I'll have to ask dad, but he's pretty permissive, unlike mum... If she was still here I could probably forget this and I'm somewhat glad dad isn't home yet, I'll have to come up with an explanation for all of this... I could probably say that Kyouko is a friend of mine, that would even be true, to a certain extent.

But she'll have to stay here permanently, for the remainder of our lives... though that probably won't be as long as I'd like it to be... Well, this isn't the time to get depressed, Magical Girl Sayaka-chan has gained a new supporter and can continue fighting for justice! ... at least that's what would happen in some manga, but I very much doubt it. We might get along right now, but we delicately avoided the difficult questions so far...

We might still have some time for that, but we won't have the time when there's a Witch to fight. There could be normal persons that were lured into their labyrinths and we'd have to decide whether we focus on killing the Witch or saving them... And then there's that thing with the familiars. If we let them go we'll get a Grief Seed later, but for what price? Are human lives really worth so little...? I don't want to believe that, I can't.

"Kyouko?" I step into my room and look around for a moment... Somehow things look different, less tidy, somewhat chaotic... and Kyouko took me quite literally when I told her to make herself at home, she's curled up on the bed with a book of mine, she didn't even ask! *Sigh* Whatever, as long as she doesn't damage anything... Wasn't there a picture of Kyousuke next to my bed...? Maybe I threw it away, my memory of the last few days isn't very clear, it's all a blur...

"Hey, Sayaka. What 'bout lunch?" She really has some nerves, asking me casually like that. Isn't she the guest? Apparently she just takes it for granted... and of course it's about the food... This might be worse than I thought at first...

"You could've offered to help, it would've been faster that way, but I did it already. You didn't even take your things with you..." I put the backpack down at the foot of the bed and look at Kyouko, she seems to be pretty engrossed by the book. Hm, 'Hans Christian Andersen: Illustrated Fairy Tales and Stories', huh? That used to be my favourite book, ever since dad read it to me, I don't even know how long ago that was. I still like it pretty much... "Are you even listening?"

"Uh, of course." She hastily puts the book onto the bed table and looks up. Still, just getting into my bed and using my stuff without even asking... I guess she'll have to learn a thing about manners, probably a lot if I ever want to get her into school... I will have to talk to her about that as well, we can't just stay carefree and do nothing but hunting Witches... though I guess we still have some time to think about it.

"Who allowed you to get into my bed? If you want something you'll have to ask for it, alright?" She looks at me as if that was natural and I was blaming her for no reason... she really is impossible... She even got my bed wet with that long hair of hers... I'll have to think of some way to punish her, I can't just let her get away with all of this... we have to live together, so both of us will have to change, I guess...

"Well, didn't you tell me I should make myself at home?" Judging by her provocative glare she knew full well that she shouldn't have done that... Yeah, this definitely calls for punishment. I take one of the pillows and beat her with it. "Hey, stop that! Well, if you're looking for a fight you got one!" She takes up a smaller one and starts to hit me back, but I soon overpower her and push her down, next I put my left leg over her hip and continue to beat her with the pillow.

"You know well enough that this isn't what I meant! Gah, take this!" She puts up a good fight, but all those years of experience against Madoka and Hitomi finally pay off! They always ganged up on me whenever all three of us had a sleepover together, but I still managed to win, most of the time... I take the pillow far above my head and swing it down again, but she crosses her arms in front of her face and blocks it...

"Now you really did it, Sayaka..." Suddenly she pushes me to the side and the next thing I know is that she's on top of me... I guess I shouldn't have taken her lightly, she isn't the same as Madoka or Hitomi, far from it... Somehow I feel a little bit uncomfortable, it was really harmless when I was on top of her, but that look in her eyes... It's almost predatory. "So, what should I do with you now?"

"How about thanking me for preparing lunch and letting you stay here for free?" Well, it might look a little bit bad for me right now, but I definitely won't back down either. "And while you're at it, button up your pyjama..." Seriously, she didn't even do that right... I look to the side, towards the window, the curtains are drawn... still, this whole position is pretty awkward and Kyouko seems to slowly realise it as well...

"Oh... oh, I'm sorry, I guess you're right." She hastily buttons up her pyjama and gets off me. Well, I don't really mind, I know how that is... I couldn't even count the times I found myself in similar situations with Madoka. Well, it's just fun and games and I don't mind if there's no one else around, most of the time not even if someone is, they should just mind their own business. Kyouko looks pretty embarrassed though...

"It's alright, no harm done. So, do you want to eat something or not?" And she seems to have forgotten all about her previous embarrassment, in a matter of seconds... That kind of reminds me of a dog I used to know, food had the same effect on him... though her general behaviour is rather like that of a cat, I guess she has a bit of both... as sluggish as a cat on a hot summer day and as gluttonous as a dog, great combination...

"Sure, let's go already!" She jumps out of the bed and hurries to the kitchen, she's a real piece of work... Maybe I got more than I asked for, sure, it's nice when things are a little bit livelier, but this... Well, I should probably follow her if I want to get something to eat... I follow Kyouko towards the kitchen, she's already eying the food I prepared with so much effort... Well, it's there to be eaten.

"Bon appétit!" I don't think I should wish her that, otherwise I should probably prepare the next course... I take a seat on the other side of the table, Kyouko is sitting right in front of me. Somehow she is strangely hesitant, I was expecting her to dig in right away... I think it came out pretty good, the teriyaki sauce was a success, there wasn't anything I could do wrong with the rice, the fried chicken in tempura batter came out perfectly. Well, in terms of taste, it doesn't really look perfect.

"Wow, this looks amazing..." Well, it was a good bit of work, I had to get out the wok to get the right temperature for the chicken and we'll still have to wash the dishes afterwards... Kyouko seems to finally bring herself to trying it, she takes the fork I placed next to her plate and brings some rice with sauce closer to her mouth, but sniffs at it first... It's not as if I was trying to poison her or anything...

"It won't bite back, don't worry." I feel a little bit insulted, she eats her fast food without a second thought, but the meal I prepared with a lot of work... Well, I won't make anything else for her, that much's for sure. And if she doesn't like it she'll have to cook on her own from now on. She finally takes a bite, I was really getting worried there... Huh? "Kyouko, are you alright?" She started crying all of a sudden...

"It's nothing, just... just something in my eye..." I don't exactly believe her, so I stand up and walk over to Kyouko. She's rubbing her eyes now, I'm pretty sure it's something else. And it's not related to my food, it isn't bad enough to make someone cry, I'm sure of it. I tried it already, it's rather good. So this has to be about something else... I put my left hand on her shoulder, not really sure about what I should do...

"It's alright, you don't have to worry about it, I won't laugh at you or anything like that if you'd like to talk about it. It's also fine if you don't..." She suddenly lets the fork fall and hugs me tightly while she's still crying, I don't understand a thing... but maybe it helps her. I just put my right hand on her head to stroke her slightly and remain like this for a while. I never expected to see Kyouko like this... or to hold her like this...

"I'm... sorry." She finally seems to calm down as she pulls herself away, so I let go of her. It was slightly embarrassing, but probably even more so for Kyouko... Well, I'd be glad if it helped her, though I don't even know what the problem might be... I've never seen Kyouko cry, if my memory serves me right. Well, there was that one moment yesterday, but I don't remember it well. At least I don't think she cried because of sadness...

"Hey, it's fine, there's no need for apologies." Somehow I feel genuine concern and sympathy for her, she looks so different, so... vulnerable. Well, I guess anyone would feel that way, I'm actually surprised that she didn't cry back then in the church... though I'm curious as to what made her feel so sad now, there's nothing that should trigger it...

"Well, you see... I just somehow had to think of... my family. How we'd all sit together at a table and eat dinner... though dad always prayed before eating. It's kinda... it makes me remember those things. I didn't really eat something other than fast food for years and... sitting here at the table with you... yeah, sorry." Oh, I guess that makes sense. It must be really hard to remember happy moments and know they'll never come back...

"What are you getting all apologetic for? Are you really Kyouko or just some impostor!?" I poke her cheek and put on my best 'serious' face. For a moment Kyouko looks genuinely confused, but the next moment she bursts out laughing while still wiping her eyes...

"Gee, way to ruin the mood, though I should thank you for that. You want proof? Well, have at you!" Her hand suddenly darts forward, towards... my plate! She stuffs the piece of fried chicken into her mouth before I even have time to process what happened... I guess there's no doubt, this is something only the real Kyouko would do... not that there ever was any real doubt to begin with. At least she seems to be cheerful again...

"Hey! That was mine... great way of thanking me you have there..." Of course she'd go for the chicken, the best thing... *Sigh* Well, it's definitely better than the mood we had before, though I think that was what Kyouko really feels... I really can't compare to that, it would be like losing my mum and dad, Madoka, Kamijou-kun and everything else I ever held dear... "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, I guess..."

"Oh, so you call me the devil? You know, be careful of what you wish for... wishes might come alive." Now she gives me a pretty smug grin... Well, she isn't really that bad, it would be far worse if I was stuck with that transfer student...

"It's just a saying..." We get back to our food, Kyouko got done with her plate faster than I had anticipated... well, there's still more and we should probably celebrate this. It isn't exactly a happy occasion, considering the mess we're in right now, but it's definitely... something? Yeah, still bea-

"I have returned to gather more data." Gah! That stupid little...! I almost swallowed up the chicken I had in my mouth... "Sakura Kyouko, would you show me your Soul Gem? I think it might have changed..." Changed...? Kyouko gives Kyubey a quizzical look, but she does take it out. Kyubey jumps onto the table and takes a closer look at it... "Yes, it seems as if this would support our newest speculations..."

"Would ya mind telling me just what the hell you're trying to say!? What speculations!?" It doesn't look much different to me, but maybe Kyubey can 'sense' it or something... Or maybe it wasn't about our Soul Gem in the first place?

"It might be difficult for you to see, but the synchronisation of your Soul Gems has progressed." Both of us look at him dumbfounded. "I should probably rephrase that... The violet line has grown. Do you understand that?" Oh, yeah, I guess it did, a little bit... "You see, I have observed you and you seemed to get along rather well, considering previous interactions. I think there is a resonance in you Soul Gems, they react to each other."

"Huh, sounds a little bit like chemical bond, is that close enough?" Kyouko looks just as confused as before, but it might help me to put this into a context I understand... I think I understand what he's getting at... "Just to make it simpler for all of us, let's go through your terms. Synchronisation refers to the part where our Soul Gems are merging. Resonance... you're saying our Soul Gems are reacting to each other, but how?"

"Your comparison to chemistry is a rather helpful one. You seem to understand the part about synchronisation, both react and become a new substance, good... and the resonance... I didn't mean that in a scientific way. All I said was that your Soul Gems respond to each other, depending on your behaviour and thoughts towards each other. Your behaviour is basically like pressure and other things influencing reactions in chemistry. I will need to observe this a little longer, there could be other explanations as well, the time we had so far is too little to draw a conclusion."

"So, you're saying... that we'd merge if we get along and divide if we fought all the time?" If that was the case all we'd have to do is fight again and we could be free...? I'd feel kind of bad about doing that, just when I started getting along with Kyouko, but...

"Not so fast. Your assumption could be correct, but that's rather unlikely. It wouldn't exactly divide your Soul Gems, I think the right word would be... decompose." What!? If we don't get along our Soul Gems **DECOMPOSE!?** "I think that would rather kill you, but I suppose it's your choice, you can take the chance... It's just speculation so far, we'd have further data if you tried it, but we'd rather observe this phenomenon a little longer."

"I was kind of wondering about that before, you've been doing this for a while, haven't you? How come something like this never happened?" I don't really know much about Kyubey, but I think he's been here for a long time, at least he hinted at that... If he and his predecessors had done that for a long time something like this would have to have happened before, right?

"We have observed and interacted with humanity almost since they started walking on two legs. I suppose that the chances were always rather low if you consider the requirements... Two Magical Girls have to meet, that isn't very common in the first place. That is not to say that none have ever attempted what you did, of course. Some tried to use the Soul Gems of fellow Magical Girls as Grief Seeds, others just pushed theirs together for different reasons... However, this is the first time two Soul Gems started to merge because of it."

"So, like, what's so different 'bout us?" Exactly my question, we never really got along or anything... though we've been getting along surprisingly well so far... Well, no easy way out, apparently. We could risk it, but I'm not really a fan of decomposing... Yeah, who knows just what exactly that's supposed to mean, I don't think I'd even want to know that... yeah, I guess I'll rather stick with the devil I know...

"Well, we don't know, to be honest. It could have something to do with your emotions, whatever they might be. Then again, Soul Gems can defy logic and it's rather difficult to determine any general constants." Not much help, but at least he's honest, I guess... both of us resume eating. Come to think of it, I should probably make my call to school, if I don't do it now school will be over...

"One more thing... since we pretty much share a Soul Gem, does that mean we share our resources as well? As in our magical power and the condition of our Soul Gem?" I'm not even sure if I should call it a Soul Gem or two, I guess I'll just stick with one... Well, I might as well see it as one Soul Gem, we can't separate them, so it might as well be one... it's pretty confusing...

"We would think so, it's possible that one half isn't as tainted as the other. But if we're not mistaken either of you turning to a Witch or either half of the Soul Gem shattering will affect the other individual in the same way." So we'd better watch it, I guess... One of us dying or turning would be bad enough on its own, but both of us... I'm pretty sure that the transfer student wouldn't be able to handle both of us as Witches at once...

"Well, thanks for the info. Kyouko, I'll make a call, see you in a moment." I stand up and walk towards the door, Kyouko just gives me a short nod, she doesn't even look up... Geez, she should really learn a thing or two about manners... I guess I admire her for that a little bit, somewhere... sometimes I'd like to be like that, not giving a care about manners or morale... but that just wouldn't be me, would it...?

...

**Kyouko's POV**

...

"Alright, now get lost..." I shoo that stupid thing away. I guess my... our situation hasn't really improved, huh? 'Till death do us part' or what? Probably, at least there's no solution in sight and our lives aren't exactly endless... Well, if her cooking stays as good as it is I don't think I'll really mind it all that much. That's gotta be the best I ate in years... though I surprised myself back then when I just started crying all of a sudden...

Though Sayaka's reaction was by far the bigger surprise... I guess she does care for me, somewhere behind all that justice she puts up. At least I don't think she truly believes in it as much as she'd like others to think... or maybe I'm misreading something, I dunno. Frankly, I don't even care, but it felt good... I didn't have anyone to turn to for the last few years, it's good to know that there is someone like that...

Of course that doesn't mean I'll do that on a regular basis from now on... but it felt kinda relieving, sharing all of that stuff with someone... I don't really know why I told her in the first place, but I guess it all worked out, in the end. What we have right now is better than what I had in forever and I'll protect it. Sayaka as well, I won't just stand by and watch her getting beaten halfway to death any longer...

That's right, from now on those aren't 'her' fights or 'my' Grief Seeds, it's all 'ours'. Our fights and our Grief Seeds. I guess that kind of thinking will need some time until I'm getting used to it... it was just 'me', ever since I left Mami. I'm actually surprised she made it so far, I'd have expected her to kick the bucket after a year or so... but it's been three years since then and she only died recently...

Come to think of it, I never asked what happened to her... I guess it doesn't really matter, we didn't talk for three years. And now she's dead, just like that... I guess that's how life as a Magical Girl goes, you kill a couple o' Witches, get some Grief Seeds if you're lucky and survive some years, if you get really lucky... then you're killed and no one remembers a thing. Well, if you're lucky, apparently...

Yeah, that's the kind of life we can look forward to. Kinda sucks, now that I think about it... then again, that hasn't changed at all, it's been this way for a long time now, at least I'm not alone with it any longer. Of course I wouldn't tell Sayaka, but I'm actually... kind of happy that things turned out the way they did... Tch, what am I even thinking!? Am I going soft or what? Yeah, like hell!

Well, maybe being just a little bit softer wouldn't harm me, at least with Sayaka... I didn't let anyone get close to me, I didn't want to lose someone or be lost, but... I can't lose Sayaka and she can't lose me, even if we wanted to lose each other. If I die so does she, if she turns into a Witch so do I... that's a really unsettling thought, but it also... makes me feel at ease, somehow. I don't have to worry about losing something important again...

Gee, I feel as if I was losing it. Just what am I thinking? Being glad that we'll die together or turn into twisted versions of our former self? *Sigh* I just dunno how to describe it. It feels disturbing, but at the same time it's strangely comforting. Well, if we're good enough we might make it for a year or two. Heck, who even said that we can't live longer?! If we grow strong enough there'll be nothing that could kill us...

Right, I've made my decision. I will live and so will Sayaka, we'll have a happy life in spite of all that crap, one way or another! I guess I'll have to help Sayaka getting the hang of fighting, she did really well, considering how little experience she had so far, but she was way too reckless. Sure, she can heal some scratches, maybe even a whole limb, but if her whole body go crushed by a Witch or something...

Nah, I can't let stuff like that happen from now on. She'll have to learn how to fight and I'll have to learn teamwork, I guess. It's been a long time since I last gave that a shot... I guess I was going to try it with Homura, but I don't think we'd make a great team... we're both lone wolfs and don't trust each other. It'll be pretty difficult to get used to all those things again... Sayaka on the other hand... I don't think she'd be bad at teamwork, but she lacks experience.

And our relationship was always pretty rocky. At least now I don't need to prove that she can trust me, even if she thinks that I'm completely selfish after all of this. If she gets killed I'm screwed and it goes the other way 'round as well. We really don't have much of a choice, other than trusting each other. We'll also have to pay attention to our Soul Gem... I pick it up from the table again and take a closer look at it.

It's kinda pretty, Sayaka's part looks like a clear lake while mine reminds me of a rose, in terms of colour... just a little bit brighter than blood. And the small violet line, apparently separating them... but I guess it's rather what's keeping us together... There's a small musical note with some lines as well, that has to come from Sayaka. Yeah, she made her wish for that little wimp... way to go, throwing her life away for him... Well, then again, I'd never have met her if it wasn't for that wish...

Then again, I'm not really one to talk... Anyways, my point is that it looks good, I can't see a trace of the taint and we'd better keep it that way. I could see for myself how well we got along when it almost got too tainted yesterday... Another thing to watch out for, huh? If I'm not mistaken we just end up fighting when our Soul Gem gets tainted and that would make it grow darker even faster, I guess...

Heh, I can see tons of problems for us with all of this already... but that doesn't influence my conviction in the slightest. I think I'll just grab Sayaka as soon as she gets back here and tell her. We'll make it through all the crap the world throws at us, together. And if we want to make it through we'll have to do it together. So we'll have to figure out how we go 'bout all of this. Hunting Witches should be obvious, but what should we do with Familiars...?

It's going to be difficult to convince Sayaka of letting some familiars escape... I'd prefer leaving them all alone, but I guess that's outta the question... Yeah, I guess the whole thing with us turning into Witches if we don't get enough Grief Seeds is a pretty good argument. We should probably discuss those things soon, if we aren't ready... well, there will be no time to do that while we're fighting a Witch.

I'd rather have things clarified when the time comes. That'll probably breed bad blood, but it's not something we can avoid forever. The sooner we get it all out of the way the better. As soon as Sayaka's done with her call we should have a talk 'bout that... I finish the remainder of the food, it really was something else... The whole fast food just can't compare to real lunch, I guess.

"Hey, Sayaka? What's taking you so long?" She's been out for ten minutes or so already, that's way too long for some call to school or something. I stand up and walk towards her room, looks as if she was still talkin' to someone...

"- know, we'll meet you later." Yeah, doesn't sound like school. Probably involves me as well, who else would she be talking 'bout? I raise my eyebrows as she ends the call by pushing a button, she heaves a heavy sigh. "That was Akemi Homura, she wanted to talk to us about our situation later on. She also mentioned Walpurgisnacht or something, she said you'd know what she means by that?"

"Oh, right, you didn't even know 'bout that. It's basically just a really big and mean Witch, much stronger than anything we've ever encountered. We're talking about the magnitude of some cities being flattened, smaller hurricanes, earthquakes and the like." Obviously I've never seen one of those, but I've heard tales before. Always shrugged it off as stupid gossip, but Homura isn't the type to get all riled up by fairy tales and I believe her story so far.

"Is that so? Why didn't you ever tell me about that? I would have been willing to help you with it, even if that meant teaming up with you..." Hm, I guess so, but there wasn't really that much time for that, I guess we kind of forgot...

"Sorry, but we didn't really get an opportunity for that, you weren't exactly responsive to either of us. I can already see the conversation play out in my head... 'Hey, Sayaka, wanna come along and kill a really strong Witch with us?' 'You are just trying to trick me, aren't you? I'll never work with scum like you. If it comes I'd rather face it alone...' And after that you'd get depressed and mope around or something."

"I don't think it was that bad... besides, that's your fault just as well, isn't it? Who came into this city and talked bad of Mami-san after she died? Who attacked me all of a sudden, without any explanations, and tried to kill me the first time we met?" I guess I had this one coming, though I did give her an explanation... but it didn't help much. All Mami's fault, she just had to go 'round and talk big 'bout justice, what's right, yada yada yada...

"Hey, I told you that you shouldn't hunt familiars. Kyubey told me the city was free and it's a better hunting ground than Kazamino. Besides, I wasn't really going to kill you..." It was just a fun little match, wasn't it?

"You could have just tried to be reasonable about it... and you wouldn't have stopped back then. If Homura hadn't arrived when she did... the crater is all I had to see in order to know your intentions." Huh...? What crater? Uh, maybe that went a little bit different from what I remember... I'm pretty sure I didn't try to hurt her too much, right...?

"I don't really remember any of that..." It doesn't look as if she was lying, was I really going for it back then...? I guess she pushed me further than I thought... well, she did give me an impressive fight, considering how little experience she had at the time. She doesn't have much more experience now, but I'm glad that we won't fight any more. She was kinda scaring me during the fight against a Witch, on an instinctive level or something...

"Well, too bad, I can show you the place if you don't believe me." I guess that did happen, huh? Strange, I really thought I was going easy on her...

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry 'bout all that. Really. Both of us did a lot of crap and I guess I did a little more, fine. Tell you what, why don't we just forget 'bout all that and start over?" I offer her my hand, though she seems to be rather reluctant 'bout it... just when I'm about to lower it again she takes it, though her grip is pretty weak. Her hand is really warm though... Well, this went better than I anticipated...

"*Sigh* It's not really something a handshake will make up for, but... If we work together from now on there'll probably be opportunities to make good for all the things we did to each other. You're right, I wronged you as well. Now would be as good a time as any, we should talk about our course of action from now on, right?" I was kinda avoiding that topic, but I guess she's right...

"Yeah, I was thinking 'bout that as well. We should compromise, otherwise we won't make it far. We can hunt some of the Familiars, but we have to get enough Grief Seeds for both of us. We'll have to see how it goes, depending on how fast it gets darker we might have to let more Familiars get away." Sayaka seems to be fairly calm, considering what we're talking about here... Maybe there is some hope that this can work out...

"I hate to admit it, but you have a point. I thought about that and... well, I basically reached the same conclusion. We'll have to see how many Familiars we can take without running low on Grief Seeds..." She clearly isn't happy 'bout that, but she seems to understand it. I put my right hand on her shoulder and smile at her, she looks pretty surprised. I guess I'll have to cheer her up from now on, as her... partner.

"Come on, don't beat yourself up over this. It won't be all that bad, don't worry. But let me tell you one thing. Maybe I was right, maybe the balance between hope and despair is always zero, in the end. However, I went through more than enough shit for both of us, so you'd better work towards a zero. Got it?" I've been close to becoming a Witch or committing suicide more than once, but no more... I'll make sure that I get to keep the change.

"I... yeah, I think so. You really are strange..." You know what? Screw the change, I'll get myself a refund. I guess I'll just take Sayaka for the time being, not the worst price I could imagine. ... Uh, that sounded... not the way I thought it would, I'm glad I didn't say that... Well, whatever, I have what I want and I'm happy with that. I didn't even know I wanted something like this, but now...

"Heh, of course I am. But strange doesn't even start to describe you, ya know?" We're pretty much laughing again, I could really get used to this. Who cares about all of that crap with Witches and whatnot either way? Or other people, I don't care if some Familiars get them. Of course I won't say that, that would probably destroy everything we've worked out so far. Yeah, I'll just have some fun and get my money's worth.

"Alright, you got me there. To be honest... I appreciate it. You being here with me, or how you saved my life... You're right, we were wrong about each other. I thought you were just scum after what you did back then, I doubted you until just yesterday... but I think I can trust you, believe in you, from now on. Just... don't do something stupid to destroy that, alright?" Heh, I guess I feel the same way...

"I didn't really risk my life to save you yesterday just so that I could throw that all away again, you know? Would be pretty stupid and I'd get nothing out of it. Fair enough, I thought you were just some naive kid, swinging 'round your sword in the name of justice and love, thinking of yourself as some kind of knight or hero, but I guess you weren't too bad, you know? I started to think... 'Maybe I could believe in those things again.', so don't screw this up either."

"I guess you were right about that, at least to some extent..." Uh... maybe I shouldn't have said that... Sayaka looks pretty down, I guess she... thinks she failed or something...

"Hey, come on, don't make a face like that. I didn't mean it like that. And if you don't believe in justice and all that crap, who will? You didn't do anything wrong so far, so just get your head back up and be proud of yourself, alright? Others wouldn't have tried to keep their friends save in a situation like that." Maybe it isn't such a good idea to reinforce her belief, but I guess she needs it...

"You know, I almost... yesterday, I almost killed two men in that train... How could I walk around and talk about justice after all of that? I even thought... maybe it would've been better... if I hadn't saved Hitomi from that Witch." Crap, that didn't really help... Hitomi was that green-haired girl, the one who took that boy, wasn't she? I'll have to think of something to say, hopefully something that **won't** worsen her mood...

"Hey, it's alright, doesn't that prove my point? You **almost** killed two men, but you didn't. Maybe you would've almost let a Witch get that girl, but you didn't, right? You could've gone there as a Magical Girl and killed her anytime, no one could prove a thing, but you didn't. You didn't do any of that. Doesn't that mean that you were being just?" She looks pretty surprised, almost as if she hadn't thought about it that way at all...

"Yeah, you're right, but... with thoughts like that, how could I be the hero I wanted to be...?" Pfft... and here I was, thinking she had done something, after all... It's just her trying to reach some impossible standards she set up for herself, after all...

"Come on, cut yourself some slack. Of course you could still be some hero or something, you didn't do any of those things. I'm pretty sure that any hero you'd hear 'bout wasn't as pure and noble as the tales tell. If you just thought those things and didn't do them you could still reach your own standards, right?" I guess I got through that thick skull of hers, at least it looks that way...

"Yeah, I guess you're right... but still... I hurt Madoka, the things I told her..." Geez... How can she look so miserable because of such trivial things? I guess there's no helping it... I slowly put my arms around her, that's just repaying the favour for what she did earlier... Somehow this doesn't work so well when I do it, I'm just a little bit smaller than her, but I still feel silly about doing this... "K-Kyouko...?"

"Come on, don't worry about that stuff so much. Just take your phone and call her or something, all you need to do is apologise, that should make everything alright again, right?" I don't really know very much about that girl, Madoka, but I think she'd be more than happy to talk to Sayaka again. At least that's the impression I get. Yeah, otherwise she'd have never been able to keep up with Sayaka...

"I... I guess you're right." I give her a little squeeze, though it doesn't look as if she's going to cry, after all... " Uh, could you... let go? I kind of need the phone if I want to call her..." Great, now I just feel silly, that's what I get for trying to help her... I let go of her, though probably a little bit faster than I should, and stumble backwards... Sayaka just looks at me strangely for a moment and gets her phone again...

She dials the number and I can hear some bleeps. Still, that was awkward... Seriously, why did it feel so natural when she did it, but now that I wanted to help her out... whatever, who cares. We wait a little, but after a while Sayaka just hangs up. "She isn't responding?"

"No, I tried calling her on her mobile phone, she should have break right now... well, maybe she doesn't want to talk to me, or she forgot to recharge it. Well, let's get back to lunch for now. And... thanks." Yeah, I guess I'll just stick with lunch, shouldn't get so awkward... besides, I wouldn't mind another helping...

...

**Author's note**: Well, sorry 'bout the late update, we were working on some other stories and kinda lacked time and inspiration lately... but we'll keep updating, next time hopefully sooner. Hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Adaptation

**Sayaka's POV**, midafternoon

...

I guess everything kind of worked out, in the end. Kyouko really isn't as bad as I thought at first. Things are definitely looking up, hunting together should make things easier as well. Though I don't think we should start hunting immediately, we'll have to plan things first. The distance is something we have to keep in mind, otherwise one of us would be done for and... well, both of us would be done for.

"So, do ya have a TV somewhere? Or maybe some games lying 'round?" Kyouko got bored of waiting and reading, apparently. She flipped through some of the books and mangas I have, but I guess reading isn't really her thing... Well, that's what I thought. She didn't strike me as the type to read a lot, she's rather impatient. I guess I'll have to look for it, I didn't really play any games in a while. I didn't really feel like it with all that Magical Girl stuff going on. And the TV program just bores me out of my mind...

"Well, yeah, we should have both. All those things are in dad's room, I didn't use them in forever. Besides, it's already a little bit too late for playing games now, school just ended." It's three o'clock, so we should go and meet the transfer student. She should be on her way home now, I could also ask her what happened to Madoka. She didn't answer me back then, so I'm a little bit worried. Though it's probably nothing. Kyouko was right, Madoka is pretty forgiving. Probably a little bit too forgiving...

"Oh, you do?! What console, what games?" Kyouko looks pretty excited, but I don't really know that much about games and so on... I rather do things with my friends most of the time, going for a swim, playing outside or just chatting. Sometimes I also read books, though not as often as dad would like. He always tells me to read more English books, but I'm not really that good at it... oh, right, the console?

"I think it was a Playstation 2 and 3, though I don't really know. Dad got them, so they belong to him. But he doesn't really have the time to do much with them, so you can use them. He also has tons of games... Anyways, we should meet that transfer student soon." Kyouko doesn't look too pleased about that and I'm not exactly thrilled either... though it's probably for completely different reasons. I never really got along with Akemi Homura.

"Aww, just when it was starting to get interesting. Oh well, let's get this over with and come back as soon as possible, alright? I'll have to check out all of those games as soon as I get back!" She really seems to like games, so dad's game room should be a paradise for her. I don't understand why he bought so many games and consoles, but I guess it's his money...

"So, you like games?" I never enjoyed them so much, a good book is better, in my opinion. Well, the more recent games can be pretty good, I guess. It's a lot like movies, the only difference is that you interact with them. The visuals and the music could make it more appealing than books for some, I suppose. But I like books better, they leave so much more to my imagination. And if it's music I want I can hear it while reading. Though I think I've had enough of classical music, at least for a little while...

"Yeah, I love them! Especially dancing games. You up for a round when we get back? I'm pretty much unbeatable at 'em, but I might go easy on you." Well, I guess there's no harm doing that. Besides, that sounded like a challenge to me. I should change into another school uniform before leaving, I have three of them. Uh, had... I'd like to have four, but three were enough. Though I'll need a new one now...

"Fine, but I'm not just a beginner, you know? I played some dancing game with dad as well and I'm not bad, so you'd better be prepared. Anyways, we should get dressed. You can look through my wardrobe for the time being. Though we should buy some other clothes for you, you can't always wear that hoodie..." That's wrong on so many levels. I hate it if I have to wear something for more than two days in a row, but she...

"I was doing just fine with my hoodie, thank you. But I guess it's gotten a little bit too small lately." Well, that's also a problem with always wearing the same things. I don't even want to think about something like that... I'll just have to make sure that things are different from now on. I'll convince dad to give me some money so we can shop. If it really has to be I'll just use my own money instead, I should have enough.

"Exactly. Let's get you some new clothes. Not today, but some other time." I'm not too comfortable about just giving her my clothes either... clothes are something very personal, in my opinion. It's probably a little bit too late to worry about that, I already gave her my boxershorts... well, she can keep those. Though we'll have to buy a lot more. I should also get her measurements for the school uniform once that's out of the way...

"Alright, alright..." I take out a new sports bra and another one of my uniforms. Only one left... well, that's not really a problem. I don't really want to go back to school for the time being. I don't feel ready to face Hitomi and Kamijou-kun yet... besides, I can't go there without Kyouko. I guess she could hide somewhere, but she would probably get bored of that pretty fast. And who knows what kinds of ideas she gets there when she's bored, I don't want to find out. "Can I try the other one?"

"Huh? The other one? Oh, you mean my uniform. I guess so, just try to be careful with it..." I slip out of my pyjama, take some deodorant and put on the sports bra and my uniform. The only thing missing is my hair, I'll comb that before we leave. I turn around to take a look at what Kyouko's doing... "Wha-!? Why aren't you wearing the boxershorts I gave you!?" She's just browsing through my clothes, bar naked! Just what is she...!? I quickly turn around, seeing her posterior was more than enough for me already...

"Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot 'bout that. But I didn't really need it anyways if I was just gonna wear pyjamas." Is she... for real? I thought that would go without saying...

"You're supposed to wear them under the pyjamas!" I stare at the wall, intend on not turning around...

"First time I ever heard something like that. Fine, I guess I'll get them..." She just leaves the room, still completely naked... How can she be so casual like that!? If it was her house and we'd been friends for some months or years, alright... but we barely know each other and those aren't her house or her clothes! I'm just glad dad isn't around, that would make me feel even more worse. Mum would probably have a heart attack if she was here...

"And take your dirty clothes to the next room to the right, just leave them there, I'll take care of it." I don't have any dirty clothes with me. Just the underwear from before, but Kyouko definitely needs her hoodie back until she gets new clothes. She's a real piece of work, seriously... though I think I would have done this even if we weren't connected. Had I known about her living conditions, that is... I really don't get her.

"Sure, sure..." She sounds slightly annoyed, but I guess she'll do it. Aren't all those things self-evident...? Well, I guess not, dad isn't much better. Mum always got angry with him as well, maybe that's why they don't live together any more? Sounds pretty trivial, but I understand that, now that I have to do those tasks. Kyouko comes back into my room and I hurry out, she's still almost naked... Well, I'll just take care of her clothes.

This will be difficult on both of us, I guess. It's a pretty big change, after all. *Sigh* Well, there's no helping it. I will just have to show her how to use the washing machine some other day, then she can do it herself. Though she saved my life, doesn't that make me... indebted to her? She said we should just start over, but... Argh, this is driving me nuts! I just stuff her things into the washing machine, put in some washing powder and set the right temperature.

"Are you ready, Kyouko? We should leave now." I'm kind of curious as to what that transfer student has to say, but I'm not exactly keen on meeting her again. Kyouko said that she helped her out, though not much. I guess I should thank her as well, for trying to save me, for protecting Madoka... I don't trust her and her 'attempt' to save me was just an act, but I feel as if she was honest about protecting Madoka. Something I failed to do, I only made things worse...

"Yeah, I'm coming!" I step out of the laundry room and the door to my room opens almost at the same time. Kyouko, she looks... wow. I didn't think it would actually suit her, but she looks pretty good in our school uniform... hm, the ribbon is a mess, but that only makes it seem more fitting for her. Her red hair looks pretty much the same as always, it goes well with the uniform. "Well, it's a little bit too big for me, but it'll do for the day. Whaddya think?"

"It looks great on you! Wait, I'll fix the ribbon for you." I lean forward and straighten it before fastening it again. Oh, the uniform is also a little bit crinkled... I pull a little bit at it to straighten it up, here we go. "Much better. It looks really good on you, honestly." She looks a little bit... embarrassed? Well, I guess she didn't receive much praise for anything in a long time. I can't help feeling compassion for her now...

"Hey, I can do that myself, y'know? But thanks, I guess..." Huh, Kyouko can actually look pretty cute, who'd have thought? I guess I never really got a closer look at her. Well, I did get pretty close in combat, but I didn't have much of a chance to observe her then... Or at that time in the church, though I acted pretty childish, 'tight as a clamp', as my dad would've put it. "Hey, quit staring... Let's get going already!"

"I wasn't staring..." She has a pretty smug smile now, as if to say 'Yeah, sure.', so much for being cute... whatever. I guess we really should get going.

...

"Kyouko, can we make a small detour?" She was the one leading me, but I want to go somewhere else, where we first met...

"Huh? Sure, why not?" I don't know where she got it or when, but she has some pocky again... well, I guess that's only fitting, I almost can't imagine Kyouko without something to eat in her mouth. Or at least in her pockets. It's just a package of pocky, though I still hope she didn't steal it... of course, and how else would she get it without any money? I guess I'll buy her some, at least I know where she got it from that way.

"Alright, just come with me for a second." The dark alley is just around the corner. Kyouko doesn't seem to recognise it right away, but I do... right there is the hole, it was covered with a board for the time being, I guess. It's not really deep or anything, but still ten centimetres below the ground around it. If her spear did something like that to solid concrete... yeah, I don't think my body could have tolerated that.

"So, what're we doin' here?" Kyouko peeks into the alley, I guess she really doesn't remember. I put my hands around the board and lift it up.

"You really don't remember? This is where we first met." She finally seems to realise it, it looks as if she was feeling a little bit guilty now... "I guess it goes without saying, but an impact like this would've killed me for sure."

"Uh... I see, I'm... sorry, I guess. I didn't really think 'bout it at that time, you were stronger than I had anticipated and... well, I guess I didn't really hold back at that time." *Sigh* I suppose I got pretty lucky that the transfer student arrived when she did. I should thank her, as much as I hate the idea. As for Kyouko... I guess it's alright, she probably didn't mean to do that. It was just something she did in the heat of the moment.

"No harm done, right? No hard feelings. So, does that make us even?" She tried to take my life once and she saved me... twice. Uh... no, the first time against that Witch doesn't count, I could've gotten out of that one myself! I think... Alright, alright, it doesn't make us even, I get it. I guess that means I'll just have to fight extra hard when we meet the next Witch. No problem for Magical Girl Sayaka-chan!

"Man, I thought we had that whole crap with debts behind us already. Doesn't matter what we did before **that** happened, just forget 'bout it." Kyouko says that as if it was an easy thing to do, but I'll definitely repay my debt to her. I mean, she said I could still be a hero and a hero has to repay her debts, right? Right. Some hero I'd be without repaying my debts!

"I guess we agreed on that, huh? Oh well, we should get going already." Well, I still don't feel much more enthusiastic about meeting that transfer student, but there's probably no helping it. If Kyouko is right about everything we'll need her help against that Walpurgisnacht Witch. Yeah, we should go there and see what she has to say. Somehow this alley almost has a nostalgic feeling for me, the place where I first met Kyouko... though it wasn't that long ago.

"Sure, just follow me." She really seems to carry a lot of pocky with her, I wonder how much she actually eats every day. That can't be good for her, all those sweets and the fast food, we'll have to work on her diet. Though she probably won't like that...

...

*Riiiiing* *Riiiiiiiiiing*

"Kyouko, stop pressing that bloody thing already!" Seriously, is she trying to annoy the transfer student before we even meet face to face? I can't say I like her, but if we have to cooperate I'd rather be on good terms with her. She'll probably rub all of this in my face, won't she? How I didn't use Grief Seeds, how I didn't accept her 'help', how I will let some Familiars escape from now on...

"It's fine, it's not as if we asked her for a meeting." She's right about that, but that's not really a reason to be so rude. This building somehow looks out of place here, it rather seems to be European, maybe Renaissance style? The door opens, she really didn't take long. The transfer student, Akemi Homura. She looks slightly irritated, but it doesn't take her more than a moment to regain her composure.

"You came. Well, come on in." She seems to be as monotone as ever... Both of us follow her in. There are no decorations, it's just a plain white room with some seating accommodations. They kind of look like the mats we use during PE, though smaller. There's already someone sitting at the table in the middle, that's our school uniform. Her pink hair leaves me with no doubt...

"**SAYAKA-CHAN!**" Madoka literally jumps out of her seat and starts running towards me, she was probably very worried. As soon as she reaches me she throws her arms around my neck, she almost knocked me flying. I definitely wasn't expecting this. I mean, I acted pretty poorly towards Madoka just yesterday... "Sayaka-chan... you're such an idiot!" She's crying, I feel even worse for everything that happened now...

"You're right, Madoka, I'm sorry. I really was an idiot." I gently wrap my arms around Madoka's back and stroke her. I didn't think I'd get to see Madoka again, but I'm glad, so very glad... I almost feel like crying myself, but I can't, not right now. I need to be strong, to show Madoka that everything is alright again. I laugh sheepishly, as I always would when something went wrong. "Ehehe. I really messed up, big time. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you. But you'll still be my wife, won't you?"

"O-Of... *Hic* Of course..." Wha-?! Somehow it felt as if someone was glaring daggers at me just now... I turn my head around to look over my shoulder, but neither Kyouko nor the transfer student look at us and there's no one else... maybe it was just me? Well, whatever, I'm really happy right now. Madoka seems to feel the same, so it's fine. I was only thinking about how miserable I felt, I didn't think about how Madoka might feel at all... Or rather, I did think about it, but I still did what I did.

"Ahem." The transfer student... I guess she did have something to discuss with us, that's why she called in the first place. But Madoka doesn't seem to want to let go, she's still hugging me. I also want to enjoy this moment, it's like waking up from a nightmare. Well, not exactly, the nightmare part ended yesterday, but this is like a confirmation that I'm back to reality... "**Ahem**. There was something we had to talk about."

"I'm sorry, Homura-chan... *Hic* but there are some things I want to talk about with Sayaka-chan first. Please leave us alone for a bit..." Madoka finally lets go of me and wipes her eyes. I turn around to look at Kyouko, she looks a little bit strange. At least not happy, far from it... the transfer student as well, what's up with them?

"O-... of course, Madoka... Sakura-san, come with me for a moment." Something really is off about those two today... Well, talking with Madoka in private is something I wanted to do as well. I have a lot to make good for, especially for how I treated Madoka just yesterday. The transfer student takes Kyouko to the other side of the room and they seem to have a conversation as well. Though it looks a little bit... shady?

"Sayaka-chan! I'm so glad... so glad that you're back!" Madoka... she really is too good for her own good. Anyone else would've been angry after what I did yesterday, and rightfully so. But she? Not at all, she's genuinely happy to see me again. She doesn't start blaming me for anything I did either, what did I ever do to deserve such a great friend? I really don't know, but right now I'm beyond happy to see her again.

"Madoka, I'm really sorry. Forget anything I said, alright? I was just wrong, absolutely stupid and wrong. If there's anything I can do to make good for it I'll do it, just tell me what." I wasn't really honest while Kyouko and the transfer student were around, this is just between Madoka and me. She deserved a proper apology, she did nothing wrong and I still lashed out at her...

"No, Sayaka, you were right... It's really my fault that you got hurt like that. If I would just make a contract with Kyubey, maybe I could..." What?! This isn't her fault at all! This is all my fault, I can't allow her to do that. "I'm scared about it, but... you know, I've been thinking about those things. Wouldn't it be good if I brought Mami-san back with my wish? I think we owe he-" I grab her shoulders, she looks very surprised.

"No, Madoka! You mustn't! I was wrong, plain wrong! It wouldn't help anyone if you became a Magical Girl, do you understand me? You absolutely mustn't!" I shake Madoka a little bit before I even realise what I'm doing, the transfer student shoots me an angry glare... I don't think she understood what I said though. I quickly let go of Madoka, that's not the right way to do this. "Sorry... but I beg of you, don't. If Mami-san was still alive and knew all the things we know now she would tell you exactly the same thing."

"I don't know, Sayaka-chan. She sacrificed herself so that I could live..." Mami-san died because of our stupidity, if we hadn't dragged her down she wouldn't have died. Madoka got caught in a couple of vines from that Rose Witch and... Mami-san was being attacked as well, but she shot at the Witch instead of saving herself. I managed to get Madoka free with the enhanced club while Mami-san distracted the Witch, but... the scissors... Madoka didn't see it, but I did, everthing... afterwards the labyrinth disintegrated and Mami-san was just gone.

"No, Madoka. If you threw away your life like that you wouldn't make her happy. She wanted you to live, to be happy. If you become like us you won't be happy and neither would Mami-san, trust me." I would know... I thought getting my wish fulfilled would make me happy, but in the end it didn't. I made the wrong wish, in a way. I just wanted Kamijou-kun to fall in love with me...

"But still... Mami-san was so happy when I told her that I'd become a Magical Girl and... I just don't think I could just let her down like this, even if I'm scared..." I don't feel good about this either, but if anything I should've wished her back. Instead I returned Kamijou-kun his arm... I can't say I regret it though, I'm happy for him. It wouldn't have worked out with us either way, now that I think about it. Yes, I can live with the way things are now.

"Madoka. Us Magical Girls need Grief Seeds to survive, you know that, right? There aren't many Grief Seeds to begin with, so two more Magical Girls... It's really like hunters and prey, you remember that stuff from biology, right? If there are too many 'hunters' the population of the 'prey' goes down. At first it doesn't change much, but you know what happens after a while, right?" I don't like putting it this way, it rather sounds like something Kyouko would say... but there is a point to it, in the end.

"The... the population of the 'hunters' declines if there isn't enough 'prey'..." Madoka doesn't seem to realise the meaning of that. I will have to be direct...

"Listen, Madoka. Magical Girls are 'hunters' and Witches are 'prey'. That means if the population of Witches goes down because there are too many of us we die. Or turn into Witches ourselves." Madoka seems to be terrified by the idea, I hope that will keep her from contracting. I really hate it, calculating things like that, but... if Witches die out we will follow them, so there'll be a time when there is no Magical Girl to protect this city. Witches can be born in different ways, so leaving this city unprotected isn't an option.

"I... I guess you're right, Sayaka-chan... Homura-chan said the same things, after all." It really rubs me the wrong way, but that's how it is... we have to regulate the population of Witches, not annihilate it. And that means... some sacrifices for the greater good. I don't think it's our place to make that decision, but there's no one else to make it. I hate it... but I think far more would die if we got ourselves killed or turned into Witches. Does that make it right? I don't think so, but what else is there to do?

"Don't get me wrong, Madoka. I don't like the way things are. But that's just the way it is. A cat can't just decide that it doesn't want to eat mice because it's unethical. Well, it could, but it would starve without something to eat." Kyouko would be proud of me for this explanation, but I feel bad about it... If there was someone to feed us like the cat we wouldn't have that problem, but there obviously isn't.

"Yeah, I get it. Sorry, Sayaka-chan, I did it again."

"Huh? You did what again?" What does she mean by that?

"Well, I talked about Magical Girls without even knowing what it's like. It really isn't my place to decide something like that and I don't envy you for having to make that decision." Well, I'd rather say the decision was made for us. So much for being a hero... I shouldn't be so negative, I can still save a bunch of people before I die. I will die, but as a Magical Girl. If I'll ever be about to turn into a Witch again, without Grief Seeds... well, there's always another option, isn't there? Even if that means...

"No kidding... Be happy that you aren't in that position and appreciate it, alright? Just leave protecting the city and so on to Magical Girl Sayaka-chan~ Oh, Kyouko and the transfer student as well, I suppose." I kind of wonder what those two are up to, it looks as if they were plotting something...

"Haha. Alright, alright, I get it. I'll leave everything in the care of our great hero, Sayaka-chan. And her trustworthy helper Kyouko and the mysterious and beautiful Homura-chan!" Uh... that really sounds like a cheap action manga. I also doubt that Kyouko would have any of that, with her being my helper? As if. I'm not so sure about the transfer student, since it's coming from Madoka she probably wouldn't mind it.

"Well, I think that was about everything I needed to get out of my system. You have anything left to say?" I don't want to leave Kyouko alone with that transfer student for too long. I don't know what they're talking about, but it looks as if they were up to something.

"Yes, I think so... you said you'd do anything to make up for that, right?" I just nod my head. I'd be careful with words like that around Kyouko or the transfer student, but Madoka wouldn't ask me for anything ridiculous. "Then promise me to never do something like that again. You know, yesterday... you were scaring me."

"Alright, I promise." I offer her my hand and stretch out my pinky, she does the same and we exchange a pinky promise. I guess this settles it. Kyouko and the transfer student are quite far away, though still within the reach of our Soul Gem, obviously. Let's see what they've been up to...

...

**Kyouko's POV**

...

*Riiiiing* *Riiiiiiiiiing* Let's just get this over with as quick as possible, I wanna try out those games Sayaka mentioned.

"Kyouko, stop pressing that bloody thing already!" What does it matter? I mean, she's expecting us, right? Besides, we wouldn't be here if she didn't give us a call...

"It's fine, it's not as if we asked her for a meeting." I don't really feel like arguing with Sayaka right now. Why is she getting so worked up over something like that either way? I was just pressing the switch twice... The door opens. Homura looks rather calm, but that doesn't say very much, she always looks like that. Even when she tried to frickin' kill Sayaka yesterday, great help...

"You came. Well, come on in." She goes in first and I follow her, Sayaka just behind me. Looks as boring as always, I don't understand why she'd live here. That old hellhole was more entertaining than this place... then again, it suits her perfectly. The strange seats she has look somewhat out of place, but they're pretty comfortable.

"**SAYAKA-CHAN!**" Wha-!? Oh, that's Sayaka's friend, Madoka... she can be glad that she isn't rushing towards me, my first reaction to that would've been self-defence. She basically jumps into Sayaka and hugs her, that's... "Sayaka-chan... you're such an idiot!" Well, I have to agree with her on that one, Sayaka really is an idiot. Though I kinda like her, even though she is one. Or maybe 'cause of that, who knows?

"You're right, Madoka, I'm sorry. I really was an idiot..." Well, a fault confessed is half redressed. Uh, maybe that would apply to someone else, I think Sayaka is irreformable... What are they doing there either way? Sayaka is hugging Madoka back, this almost looks... "Ehehe. I really messed up, big time. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you. But you'll still be my wife, won't you?" Wha-? W-Wife!?

"O-Of... *Hic* Of course..." That's... come on! I mean, they're just kidding... right? Right...? That doesn't really look like a friendship kind of hug, though I don't really know much 'bout that... Sayaka glances over her shoulder, both I and Homura quickly look away. Homura looks as if she was trying really hard to hide her shock... I guess I look the same right now. Sayaka finally turns away again, though they still make no move...

"Ahem." Homura seems to snap out of it, finally. I would've done the same as her, though I'm not sure how I should feel about this. I mean, it's fine with me, I guess... I don't mind that, but... I don't take it as well as I thought I would. And they don't even react! "**Ahem**. There was something we had to talk about." I'm glad Homura is here with me, I wouldn't know how to react to this situation at all...

"I'm sorry, Homura-chan... *Hic* but there are some things I want to talk about with Sayaka-chan first. Please leave us alone for a bit..." Those two... are they for real? This scene could be taken right out of some cheap romance movie I saw in a cinema once! It was a horrible flick, but that's not the point! Madoka finally lets go of Sayaka, though it looks far more reluctant than it should... Sayaka just looks sheepish, that... that idiot!

"O-... of course, Madoka... Sakura-san, come with me for a moment." Wha-? She's just backing down!? Some help you are, Homura. Then again... I guess that's what we should do, ain't it? I mean, it's none of our business. Why should I care either way?! I follow Homura to the other end of the room and drop into one of the seats. Whatever, I will just take some pocky, I should've taken another box with me...

"Want some?" I offer one to Homura as well, this time she takes it.

"Sure. But we have to do something about **that**." Huh? What? Does she mean... **that**? She has a perfect poker face...

"And what should we do about **that**?" I don't know what she's up to, but I might as well listen to her. It's not as if there was much else to talk 'bout right now. Besides, I'm just a little curious about her plans. And if there's any chance of them succeeding. Not very likely, this is Homura we're talking 'bout here. I remember how well her last plan went, saving Sayaka and so on...

"If I knew what we should do I would have done so already... but there has to be something we can do, right?" She seems to be serious about it...

"Maybe, but why should we? It's not as if we had any right to meddle in their affairs..." This is a real headache, I just dunno...

"Come on, that's not like you at all. 'If you want something just take it', isn't that what you always said? I would suggest that you try just that, maybe that will put an end to... **it**." She throws a reproachful glance at Sayaka... Just what is she talkin' 'bout now? Sayaka seems to be shaking Madoka for some reasons, though I can't understand what they're saying...

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Now she's giving me a rather meaningful glance, just what is she trying to get at...? Somehow she looks pretty conspiratorial...

"Let's not mince words here, I know how it is. There is something both of us want and I think we will only get there if we help each other out. On our own we probably won't get very far. We have to work together in times of need." Just what's she going on about? There are tons of things I want to get, but I can't think of anything I couldn't get on my own... pocky, taiyaki, ramen... yeah, I can get all of those myself. It's got to be something else...

"You said 'Let's not mince words', but you're the one beating 'bout the bush. If you've got something to say just say it, otherwise shut up." It's probably related to what we were talking 'bout before, but I fail to see the connection between that and food...

"Very well, I will make this short. I want Madoka, you want Sayaka." What? I mean... what the hell?! I'm happy with just being frie- "Don't even try to deny it, I know you better than you'd think. Probably better than you know yourself..." Somehow I really hate it when she's being all smug 'bout how much she supposedly knows. Besides, how would she even know that? I don't think any me would have a heart to heart with her...

"Yeah, sure you know... Whatever. I don't really care 'bout that." Seriously, what is she even trying to get at? Even if I was in some way interested, though I'm not, what does she want? "... So, whatcha have in mind?" It's not as if I was actually interested. I'm just curious, is all. Besides, I don't really have much else to do. I finish my pocky and get myself another one, though I'm starting to worry... maybe that won't be enough for the way back.

"Well, that's the difficult part. If you would just get closer to Miki-san... that boy is already out of the picture, so she might divert her attention to Madoka. If you were to catch her interest instead... well, my problem would be solved. And yours as well, it's a win-win situation." That sounds... like the dumbest thing I ever heard her say.

"That's not even close to a plan, it's just some half-assed idea. Besides, why do ya think that wimp's out of the picture?" Maybe she's just playing 'round with that Madoka girl. It's not as if Sayaka confessed her... wait, didn't she, kinda? Uh... well, whatever. It doesn't frickin' concern me!

"I would think so. The times she didn't become a Magical Girl she lost interest in him by this point. Well, not quite smoothly, but she moved on. As a Magical Girl she didn't make it this far, but I... well, I 'borrowed' that boy once, it didn't help. In fact seeing him again after what had happened only irritated her even further." It's still pretty hard to wrap my brain 'round that whole time travelling stuff, it's really confusing...

"If you mean kidnapping when you say 'borrowing'... you should've seen that one coming. Anyways, assuming you are right... what are you suggesting?"

"I don't know. I just think we should help each other out, on our own our chances aren't that great. We are pretty much alike, after all. Don't try to deny it, you were always watching over Miki-san. Just as I was watching over Madoka. We try to reach something we can never have on our own, so I suggest an allegiance. We help each other out if we can, that way both of us get closer to our goal."

"If ya say so..." It's pretty weird, talking to Homura 'bout stuff like that... I don't really know very much about her, but she claims to know pretty much everything 'bout me. Kinda pisses me off, that behaviour. Don't think there's anything to it, but why not? I guess I could help her out a li'l bit, there's no harm doing that. "Fine with me, I don't mind. I guess that makes us partners in crime, huh?"

"What crime? No one can blame you for that. I won't allow someone like that to exist. All we did was watching over them, right?" Well, yeah, pretty much. I was just making sure that idiot didn't get in over her head. Still, it's a little bit... "Well, we should probably come up with a cover name, that way we can even discuss it when one of them is around. What do you think about MSU?" Wait, MSU? What could that...?

"Ya ain't seriously suggesting Magical Stalkers United, are ya?!" That's just plain wrong, how did she even get an idea like that!? In that context, watching over them all the time... I guess it could look like that from the outside, huh? She herself looks pretty shocked...

"Wha-? No! I was going to say Magical Supervisors United... It just reminds me a little bit of my time with Mami-san, she once referred to herself and me that way towards Madoka..." It does sound like something Mami could've come up with, I'll give her that. Back in the days she had to give anything stupid names, it was pretty childish. Why'd I announce what I'm gonna do in Spanish either way? And I was shouting it with her, like some idiot...

"Alright, I guess. I don't like it, but I don't really give a damn. If you wanna we can just go with MS-"

"Hey, transfer student! What did you want to discuss?" Sayaka!? Both Homura and I flinch, we weren't paying attention to them at all... I'm just glad she didn't hear any of that stuff just now, otherwise she'd probably beat us round the head with swords by now...

"Sayaka-chan, you shouldn't always call Homura-chan that. She has a name, you know?" Hm, I didn't really pay attention to that before, but Sayaka calls her that most of the time, doesn't she? Probably goes to show that she doesn't really like Homura. I can't really blame her, Homura wasn't exactly nice to her either.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I just got used to that. We should probably start over as well, right? I'm Miki Sayaka, nice to meet you." She even bows a little, that probably takes her a lot of willpower. I guess it's for the best, all of us should get along, at least to a certain degree. I'm not saying we have to get all buddy-buddy with each other, but if we fight among us that Walpurgisnacht could become a real problem.

"Very well. Akemi Homura, nice to meet you as well." She still sounds as monotone as ever... well, that's probably just the way she is. They even shake hands, though I think it's more for show than anything else, probably for Madoka.

"Oh, while we're at it, I'm Kaname Madoka. Nice to meet you!" She seems to be way too enthusiastic 'bout this stuff... Oh well, I should probably be nice to her, unless I want to get into another fight with Sayaka.

"Hey. I'm Sakura Kyouko. Nice to meet ya as well." That should be fine, at least Sayaka doesn't seem to be angry. Same goes for Homura, so there's no problem.

"Well then, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way we should get back to business. Madoka, could you leave for a bit?" I guess she doesn't want to involve Madoka in this whole Magical Girl mess. I see where she's coming from, I would do the same if Sayaka hadn't made become one already. No one should have to live such a crappy life. Though it's a little late for that now, there was nothing I could've done either way. All happened before I got here.

"Alright, Homura-chan..." She doesn't look very happy, but she wouldn't be of any help. If anything she'd probably distract us, at least Homura, so it's better if she ain't here. Homura produced a map on the small table in the centre of the room, I guess she wants to discuss strategy or something. I should probably pay some attention to that, even I can't exactly take Walpurgisnacht lightly. That Madoka girl is still around, but I don't think she'll hear us.

"Well, Kyubey told me about your current 'condition' already, so we don't need to bother with that. Let's just get to the important part. Walpurgisnacht will most likely appear around here..." She points to some location on the map, though I don't really know how to read that thing. I guess she's talking 'bout the clock tower, at least that's what she said last time. "It doesn't have a barrier, so the battle will take place in the city itself."

"In the city itself?! We can't fight there, there are too many people! We can't risk all of their lives, we have to get it somewhere else." Huh, that's something new. All the Witches I met so far had a barrier they hid in. Well, there's probably a whole lot of stuff I don't know 'bout Witches. Homura should know her stuff, if her stories are true she fought that thing already, with Mami and Madoka.

"You don't need to worry about that. The city will be evacuated roughly two hours before it appears. There will be a severe weather alert, that's the explanation meteorology has to offer. We will have to face it at the clock tower. Don't worry about property damage, that will be the least of our problems." I don't think we would've worried 'bout that either way. Who cares if some cars or whatever get destroyed? I don't, those cars ain't worth my life.

"So, what can it do? And when will it appear?" Oh, I forgot to ask that before. Well, I was too occupied with all the other stuff going on at that time...

"I can't give you an exact date, the weather alert will tell us when the time has come. Its abilities... Well, it is a very strong Witch and has a lot of Familiars. Pay attention to those as well, otherwise they will overrun you through sheer numbers or lure you into a trap. There will be a lot of rubble flying around, even entire buildings. If you get hit by one of those... I don't think I need to tell you that. It can also breathe fire out of its mouth."

"That doesn't sound so bad, huh? I'm sure I could take it on my own, at least with Sayaka." I give Homura a grin, I don't really think it sounds that bad. I mean, doesn't sound much different from any of the other Witches I fought so far. Sure, it's probably bigger and it doesn't have a barrier, but that seems to be 'bout it. The flying rubble could be annoying, but I'm pretty confident of my abilities.

"Well, I would let you give that a try, if I didn't know the outcome already. That Witch is very hard to reach because of those factors and it's extremely resilient as well. You will need my backup and my experience, as well as my ability." I guess it wouldn't be bad to have her around. I won't reject her help, I'm not stupid. It was more of a joke either way, if I don't make one this would just get too boring.

"Yes, Akemi-san is right, we shouldn't act recklessly. According to Kyubey we are stronger now, but we also have new restrictions to keep in mind. You were just joking around either way, right?" I guess she got it, unlike a certain someone, apparently. Lighting the mood ain't a bad thing, especially not with Homura around. "Can you also tell us something about the Familiars, what exactly do they do?"

"Well, most of them won't do much. Just worry about those looking like girls, they can shoot magical projectiles at you. They're surprisingly fast and they can hide themselves among all the things flying around. Look out for an ambush as well, you really don't want to ignore them." Still doesn't sound too bad, but I guess Homura wouldn't joke around. If she says that Witch is dangerous it is.

"Alright, thanks. We will keep those things in mind. If it appears we meet at the clock tower, right?" Sounds like a plan. If all three of us fight it together we should be able to beat it. There were other stories 'bout it being defeated, so it should be possible. I was kinda worried, with just me and Homura, but now... there's still no guarantee that we'll be able to do it, but it's looking pretty good. Especially if Homura had given up on Sayaka already.

"Yes, that is the best course of action. It could appear anytime from today on, but it will appear before the first of May. If it didn't appear until then we should meet in the morning of that day, it will arrive then." Yep, it appears 'round that time, if the stories are true. Though no one knows when or where, except for Homura, I guess. Good thing she told me, I don't think I could've defeated it on my own without even knowing it would come.

"So, that's everything we had to talk 'bout, right?" I wanna get back as soon as possible, there are some games I've got to check out.

"Well, I wouldn't know of anything else. Unless there is something you want to talk about you may leave." The way she said that...

"'You may leave.'? Ya ain't my boss, got that? I come or leave at any time I like." She has more experience, sure. But I won't let her act all haughty just because of that.

"I didn't mean it like that. You can just leave if there's nothing left to discuss." Whatever...

"Thanks for having us, Akemi-san." Huh? What is Sayaka doing now? It looks as if she was... sneaking up on Madoka? The hell is she up to?

"**KYAAA**! S-Sayaka-chan! Stop that!" Is she seriously... groping Madoka!? I never saw her behave like this, what the-

"Sakura Kyouko... now is your chance. Give her a taste of her own medicine." ... As if. I just stare at Homura, is she seriously expecting me to do that? Yeah, no way in hell. "It might not seem like much of a threat, but you shouldn't underestimate **it**. I did and... well, you should know just as well as I do that feelings like that... they aren't good for Magical Girls." She's right 'bout that, I guess...

"But ya can't be serious... I can't just go in there and feel her up!" What does she think I am!? 'sides, that would probably blow up in my face, I don't think Sayaka would just wink at that. She's been rather patient with me already, but she sure has her limits...

"Trust me. If it doesn't go well I will get you out of there." Very reassuring...

"Sayaka-chan! Stop, I... I... Hahaha! Someone, help- hahaha!" *Sigh* If I do that... this should be over and we can just go home. Worst case, Sayaka smacks me and that's it, probably. It's better than Homura taking action, she has some kinda nervous twiching going on there... Yeah, I'm just doing it to protect Sayaka. If I don't so something 'bout that Homura will.

"There's no helping it... I'll do it." I slowly approach them. Madoka is struggling, but Sayaka clearly has the upper hand... If I'll do it I have to be fast. I'm right behind them now, Sayaka didn't notice so far... somehow I feel like a cat stalking a mouse, this is kinda fun. It's exciting, in a strange way. If I don't take my chance now it'll probably be too late... Well, here goes nothing!

"Wha-!? Kyouko, what are you doing...?" I'm starting to think that wasn't such a good idea, after all... I didn't try to catch her there, but that's how it turned out... I can feel her chest, this isn't good... "Oh, did you feel lonely? Why didn't you just say so? I'll give you some _special_ attention..." Wha-?! She suddenly let go of Madoka and somehow wriggled her way out of my hold, I was being careless!

"Hey! Sayaka, cut this out immediately! I was just tryin' to make ya stop! You were making Madoka uncomfortable there, so I wanted to show ya how it feels. Get off me!" How did it turn out like this...? A single moment of carelessness was all it took for Sayaka to get behind me instead... "Homura, help me!" She said she was goin' to help me, damnit!

"Sorry, you're on your own." That bitch! Didn't take her five minutes to backstab me! I'll have to get out of this one myself. I won't forget this one, I'll get back at Homura!

"I didn't expect this..." Is she...? She's feeling me up, I can't believe her! I feel strange, it feels a little bit ticklish, but also... just strange. "I mean, Madoka isn't exactly busty, but you... Almost feels like a board." Wha-...?

"Don't worry, Madoka, you are perfect the way you are." Madoka doesn't really seem to be mad, but I... there's only so much crap I'm willing to take, even if it's Sayaka doin' it! I struggle a bit, at least she seems to get it and lets go... Damn, had she done any more I would've been the one slapping her!

"What the hell were you thinking, Sayaka!?" She looks pretty confused, somehow this irritates me even further... I really just wanna smack her right now.

"Hey, that's my line! You were the one who started all of this!" Uh... I look for Homura, but somehow she's nowhere to be found... where the hell is she? Come to think of it, Madoka isn't there either... Damn, she set me up! I'll repay her for all of this, sometime...

"Let's just forget 'bout that and get going..." I sure as hell want to forget all of this as soon as possible...

"And now you're just ignoring me? *Sigh* First you're desperate for attention, then you just ignore me. Oh well, whatever." I wanna tell her how wrong she is, but... If I tell her Homura probably won't keep quite 'bout my habit of... watching over Sayaka. She would deserve some punishment, but I don't want everything ruined 'cause of something like that... That's right, our 'peace' is rather fragile, isn't it? Yeah, I've got to keep that in mind...

"Let's just get going already..." I just wanna get home already, at best we'll forget all that stuff by the time we're there. And then it's all fun and games! Sounds great. I still have some snacks in my backpack, so it's gonna be a good day. Now that I think 'bout it, it's been a while since my last pocky. I take out the box, it's alarming how light it feels... That's what I thought, only three left. I take one, the other two... "Hey, Sayaka. Want one?"

"Hm? Alright..." She hesitates a little bit, probably wondered where I got it. Yeah, she's like that. Though she'd better not throw it away, or else I'll give her a piece of my mind... I offer her one and she takes it without further questions. All the better. I guess she's got a strong opinion on stealing, but not quite as strong as mine on wasting food. I don't care, even if it's Sayaka, I won't let something like that go unpunished.

...

We just walked next to each other in silence for a while. That was my last pocky... Also looks as if it could start raining any minute, what is it with the weather these days? Shouldn't be this wet or this cold. Everything should be pink and white with cherry blossoms, but somehow it all looks grey and dull... sure seems depressing. *Sigh* I just throw the empty box into the next trash bin.

"I feel kinda hungry, can we grab something to eat?" Sayaka seemed to be lost in thought or something, at least she didn't talk to me. Now she looks a li'l bit angry...

"What? Food!? We just had lunch, remember? Besides, there's still some leftovers, you can have anything that isn't for my dad." Yeah, it tastes pretty good, but it's gonna take some time to get back. No matter where I look, there are stands everywhere! It's almost as if they were trying to mock me...

"I guess you're right... I'd just like something small, like taiyaki. A little snack for the way." Sayaka looks at me with complete incomprehension, as if she couldn't grasp the very idea... what's so hard to understand 'bout that? If I had some money I'd just buy it myself... or steal it, if Sayaka wasn't so intolerable with her morale.

"*Sigh* If it's just something small... fine. I wanted to go shopping either way, though not today. I guess it's fine, but you'll carry the purchases, alright?" Sounds like we had a deal.

"Sure thing, let's go~" Pocky, taiyaki, ramen... oh, there's a lot I wanna get. I just hope Sayaka will pay for all that stuff... I guess I shouldn't overdo it, I've got some things in my backpack as well, after all.

...

**Author's note**: Huh, not fast at all... Sorry 'bout that, there was some stuff I needed to do and there're some other stories we have to take care of for the time being, so the next chapter might take a while.


End file.
